Broken Wings
by Nagiana
Summary: Sequel to "Lips of an Angel". *Full summary inside* When Sam mysteriously disappears one afternoon, he leaves the rest of his family wandering around in the dark as to what happened to him. When Dean steps in Sam's place and takes the family on the road in order to find out what happened to him, they'll find out more than they bargained for pertaining to Sam . . .
1. Prologue

**Okay, here's the sequel to Lips of an Angel that I've been promising everyone. Sorry I was delayed, I'm in South Carolina visiting family and my grandfather doesn't have internet (not surprising) so I have to go to a cousin's house to make my rounds. So, again, sorry for the delay, here it is :)**

**I'm not exactly sure how long this takes place after Lips. Sam and Issa's son IS fifteen, so you do the math :)  
**

**Um, this is predominantly a DeanxIssa fanfic. There will be lemons between DeanxIssa and probably little to no lemons of SamxIssa. Not sure whose gonna get her in the end, too. Actually, I'm not sure about a lot of this story, so if you don't want to deal with unquestionable randomness and Dean moving in on Sam's girl, then feel free to not read, although I really hope you do :)  
**

**Summary: When Sam mysteriously disappears one afternoon, he leaves the rest of his family wandering around in the dark as to what happened to him. When Dean steps in Sam's place and takes the family on the road in order to find out what happened to him, they'll find out more than they bargained for . . . namely the selling of Sam's soul to Crowley for something that may shock to the core of the very foundations of his and Issa's marriage.  
**

**Disclaimer (only gonna do this once; don't see the point of doing multiple ones XD): I, Nagiana, do not own the rights to Supernatural. I do not own any characters in this fanfic except those of Issa and Jason and any other ones that I will mention at the beginning of the chapter. Of course, that does not mean that I would not WANT Sam or Dean ;)  
**

**Anyway, enough of the long intro! Sorry for the short prologue! Enjoy!  
**

**- Nagiana  
**

* * *

The football whizzed through the air and Sam Winchester jumped up and caught it, landing with his feet planted firmly on the ground and a broad, proud beam plastered on his face. "Nice throw, Jason – you have quite an arm! You'll get back on the team before you even know it!" He called to his fifteen-year-old son, and Jason grinned back as Sam tossed it back to him. He caught it with the smooth finesse of a future Quarterback-in-the-making.  
"Thanks dad!" Jason called back as he tossed it to him again. Sam caught it again and shrugged.  
"Don't mention it. When are the tryouts again?" He asked him, and Jason quirked an eyebrow at him that screamed that it was truly Issa's womb that he had came from, and Sam couldn't help but cock a half-grin of amusement.  
"Depends . . . will you actually show up this time?" He asked him, his voice laced with bitter venom, and the next time Sam caught the football, he held it and moved over to his son, his fingers tightening slightly on the toughened leather.  
"Look, Jason, I'm sorry -"  
"Uncle Dean's always there, and mom is too!" Jason interrupted him, his voice still bitter, and Sam pursed his lips a little as he held his son's gaze. "Uncle Dean is at all my tryouts, dad, he's at all my practices cheering for me, cheering me on – it doesn't matter what it is, he's always there! Mom's there too most of the time - Hell, even uncle Bobby shows up sometimes when he can manage to make it! Everyone who matters to me is always there except you!" Sam swallowed heavily as he clamped a hand on his son's shoulder and squeezed.  
"Look, Jason buddy, I'm sorry, but the office . . . I'm shooting for partner next month! I have to focus - I have to do my job! I'll show up when I can, but . . . you know I can't make any promises!" He told him, and Jason pursed his lips and looked away, trying not to let the disappointment show in his eyes. Now that look was purely Dean, and once again, Sam found his mind wandering to a dark place that he never wanted it to go.  
If Jason didn't look so much like him physically, with his chocolate brown hair that fell down and curled slightly at the ends, green eyes and the same facial features, Sam wouldn't be able to help but seriously doubt his paternity – despite what Issa and Dean vehemently protested.  
Sam sighed and looked down at the wet ground underneath their feet – the raindrop heavy grass and sandy mud. It had rained earlier that morning and well into the afternoon, and the steel gray grounds pregnant with water still hung ominously overhead. "And besides . . . Dean's always been better at that kind of stuff, anyway - sports and physical stuff like that. He played football too, you know, whenever we were at the same school for a definite amount of time - or any other sport for that matter - while I stayed in the classroom and studied. I guess you being a sport junkie is sort of a way for me to make up for lost ground, huh?" He asked him, laughing a little, and Jason shrugged and looked down at the ground.  
"I just . . . dad, I really wish you were more around, you know?" He told him quietly. "Mom is so . . . she gets sick sometimes, and I worry for her, and she only gets better when you get home!" Sam nodded in understanding.  
"Yeah, I understand buddy . . ." Sam spoke quietly, and really, he did. Issa was a Fallen Angel, who had been cast down from Heaven by God for getting caught with blasphemous revolutionary materials. Dean and Sam had found her seconds after she had Fallen to Earth, and like all Angels, Issa craved the warmth of mortals, Angels being as cold as the dead. When she touched Sam, his warmth spread into her and a process called 'Bonding' was immediately initiated. Bonding was when an Angel and the mortal she first touched, started to bond to each other based on that warmth. If allowed to continue, the Angel and his/her mortal would be Bonded together forever, the Angel only able to survive so long as that particular mortal was still giving her the warmth he or she needed, either through hugs, kisses . . . sex. It wasn't uncommon for the Angel and their mortal to fall in love, marry each other and then build a life together that often included kids and a sense of what mortals would call 'normalcy'. The 'sickness' that Jason was referring to, was when the warmth started to leave Issa, making her crave Sam and the warmth that only he could give her.  
Jason had no idea that his mother was an Angel. Granted, she was a Fallen Angel, but technically still an Angel nonetheless.  
Overall, they lived a fairly normal life in suburbia Kansas. Sam was an esteemed lawyer at the local law firm while Issa stayed at home helping Dean research his hunting jobs, almost serving as a female Bobby. Jason was the atypical kid, despite being something of a demi-Angel. He loved sports, videogames and positively adored his uncle Dean – had since he was a child, actually. Sam chalked it up to Dean and him just sharing the same interests which ensconced everything from vintage cars, to classic rock and of course – sports and women. But Sam wouldn't deny that it sometimes made him a tad bit jealous.  
Sam sighed and smiled as he wrapped his son in a one armed hug, bringing him close to him. "I'll make you a deal, buddy, okay? If you get on the football team, I'll promise that I'll come to every one of your games unless I'm in court! Then I'd have to miss, or I'd go to jail!" He told him, laughing a little and Jason broke away from him and turned an excited gaze up onto him.  
"You mean it, dad? Do you honestly mean it? You'll be at every one?" He asked him, and Sam smiled and nodded.  
"I promise, Jason." He told him and Jason hugged him tightly.  
"Thanks dad! You can bet you . . . butt I'll get on the team again this year!" He spoke in excitement, and Sam grinned and laughed alongside him as he hugged him back. This was probably the first hug he and his son had ever shared since he was ten!

* * *

"Wow, they seem to be getting along a little bit better lately!" Dean Winchester spoke in slight amazement as he and Issa gazed out the kitchen window into the scene unfolding before them in the backyard. He stood beside her, his hands shoved down into the pockets of the brown leather jacket that he had, had since time immemorial, it seemed, and Issa gave a half-shrug, a small smile spreading across her beautiful features as she did so.  
"Believe it or not, Dean, this is rare for them!" She told him quietly before she shook her head. "Jason's a good kid. He gets great grades, he hangs out with the right crowd, but . . . it's these damned sports! He wants Sam to be at all his practices and his games, just like you are Dean! You're at every one, and it almost kills you when you're not! Jason sees that and he wants Sam to feel the same way! Sam says he does, that he wishes he could, but Jason doesn't believe him. Hell – I don't even believe him half the time, and I'm married to the man! Then, it escalates into a fight and soon, they're not talking for a week or two. Longest it's gone on was a month or two and that was three months ago!"  
Dean's eyebrows rose in awe. "Well, damn! I didn't know it was so bad!" Issa sighed and turned her eyes onto him.  
"Jason is so much like you, Dean!" She told him quietly, and he turned his eyes onto her as well. "He's so physical and every poster in his room is either a poster from a Sports Illustrated: Swimsuit Edition or a poster of every car from the 1960's and 70's!" She sighed and looked back out the window. Sam and Jason were talking again and Sam handed him back the football, gesturing for him to back off so that he could throw it. Dean fallowed her eyes and he cracked a grin and laughed.  
"Well, it figures then. My own son can barely look at me much less have enough time to act like me! It makes sense that my nephew has to instead!" He joked, a tad bitterly, and Issa turned a curious but concerned gaze onto Dean.  
"How is Travis?" Dean shrugged.  
"I don't know, Issa . . . I honestly don't know. Cassie isn't letting me see him anymore. She claims I'm too much of a 'bad influence' on him with my Hunting and all." He spoke, his voice belying the bitterness he felt aside but didn't allow to show. He never let his weaknesses show to Issa. From the beginning, he knew he had to be strong for her and he supposed that feeling extended to even then. He shook his head. "I don't where I fucked up with her, Issa – I honestly don't! I thought we were . . . I just didn't think we were doing badly until she served me up the divorce papers last year." He told her and she smiled a small smile as she placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.  
"I'm sorry Dean . . ."  
"You know, the only woman I ever really loved was you Issa . . ." He confessed, turning his eyes onto her. "Every one of my past lives, I was romantically involved with you in some way! Jem, Asa – _Alexander_!" He shook his head again. "The hotel room fifteen years ago . . . the . . . _deal_ the three of us had weeks after you came back to us!" Issa sighed and crossed her arms in front of her chest, where she looked down at the ground.  
"Dean, I don't know what to say -"  
"Mom – uncle Dean - come quickly!"  
Issa and Dean reacted quickly, shooting for the door leading to the backyard with the speed born only from their days back when they were hunting together, when it was just Dean, Issa and Sam. They skidded to a stop at where Jason was kneeling, mud and wet grass flying everywhere as they came to a stop.  
Sam was gone. He had completely disappeared.  
"Jason, what happened to him?" Dean asked quickly, his eyes flying around them trying to find a trace of where Sam could be or could have gone, and Jason shook his head.  
"I don't know! I told him to wait a minute as I went into the garage to get my new football and when I came back, he was gone!" He spoke and it was then, at her son's words that tears steadily welled up in Issa's eyes. He was gone! She didn't feel him anywhere around them! His warmth was completely gone!

Slowly, the warmth started to seep out of her body and suddenly, she was screaming Sam's name over and over again in fear. Without him, she wouldn't have her warmth! Without him she could . . . she could die.

When he didn't show himself or call for help or do anything to show he was alive and well, she eventually slumped into Dean's arms, sobbing, as his heart fell down into his stomach. Where could he have gone? Did he just walk away or did something actually happen to him?  
As he wrapped his arms around Issa and gently started shushing her, Jason reacted almost as badly as his mother had. Tears welled up in his eyes and spilled over as sobs wracked his body. The young teenager bent over the mud and grass and sobbed, the only two words spilling out were 'you promised'.


	2. Chapter 1

**Okay, one thing I forgot to put in my last author's note is something of a request from me. If yourfavorite my story, then please, please, PLEASE give me a review! There had to be something about my story that made you favorite it, so please, TELL ME what it was! You don't have to review every chapter like some of my followers, but just a review telling me what you liked about the story and maybe a chapter in particular does wonders for my morale! If I get reviews and PM's badgering me to update - I'll update! Its just sometimes I get focused on something else for a moment and completely forget about a story. Hopefully I won't forget about this one (I don't plan on it, actually XD) but if you notice I haven't updated in a while, slip me a PM reminding me that I have this story. I promise that I'll update pretty soon after unless of course a emergency pops up. :)**

**And of course, in case you haven't noticed, I did pair Dean up with Cassie from Season I in the background. I really liked Cassie and I thought they had chemistry, so . . . yup, they married and had a kid in Travis, who I do plan on bringing into the picture in later chapters ;)**

**Anyway! Enough of my rambling! Here's Chapter 1!**

**Enjoy!**

**- Nagiana**

* * *

It was raining again. The rain pounded against the kitchen windows as Dean and Issa sat across from each other at the kitchen table, cups of cooling coffee in front of them as water dripped down from the half-closed tap. It echoed around the kitchen . . . echoed around in their heads like some cruel joke. It offered them no reprieve from their own haunting thoughts and ugly suspicions.

Dean glanced at Issa sitting across from him, at the layers upon layers of Sam's sweatshirts that she now wore - at her tear-stained eyes, clammy pallor and lusterless ebony hair. With Sam's disappearance, was also the disappearance of the warmth that only he could offer her. The future held only pain and coldness for her . . . a depression worse than any mortal could ever experience. The only thing that kept her alive was her son . . . Sam's son, Jason.

"How have you been doing?" He asked her quietly, already knowing the answer, and she miserably shook her head.

"I'm cold, Dean . . . I've never been this cold before, even when he left me after the truth came out about us!" She told him, her voice quiet and small – bird-like even. She was too young to be a widow if he was dead . . . Jason too young to know this much hurt and loss. Dean sighed as he leaned forward on the table. If she was so cold, then no wonder she was wearing so many sweatshirts. Of course, nothing would be able to give her the type of warmth she needed and craved . . . the warmth that only Sam could give her.

"So what's going on?" It had been a month since Sam's disappearance – a month full of nothing but twisted guts and tears until the police called off the searching and fully declared him 'missing' or 'dead'.

"Nothing much – the case is basically at a standstill. The police can't find him and they've pretty much given him up for dead. If it's true, then Bobby said he would be more than happy to handle all the funeral arrangements for me . . ." She shook her head, tears brimming up in her eyes again. "I just don't know how I'm going to survive this, Dean – how me and Jason are going to survive this!" She told him, her voice broken and husky with tears. "Sam supported us – he could afford to support us without me getting a job, because he knew that getting a job was risky for me and he planned appropriately! But now . . . Dean, without Sam, we might lose the house and our -"

"Issa, listen to me!" Dean interrupted her firmly. "You are _not_ going to lose the house! I've been making calls – there are close friends willing to help you and Jason! Bobby is going to be doing all he can and then you have me! _I will not_ let you drown!"

"Why would he have left us, Dean? I didn't think things between us were bad at all!" She shook her head and Dean forced himself not to think about how eerily similar her situation had been to his and Cassie's a year ago. The only difference was that Cassie and Travis had moved into her mom's house – not that she had disappeared off of God's green earth like Sam had! "I just . . . I can't help thinking that he left because . . . because of another _woman_!" Dean shook his head vehemently before the words were even out of her mouth.

"No, Issa, don't think like that! Cheating to Sam is like . . . he just wouldn't do it! Remember how he almost killed us when he found out about _us_! He would _not_ do it to you! I tell you, there is another reason why he left – we just have to _find it out_!"

Issa turned a thankful gaze up to him before it disappeared and a look of misery replaced it. "Jason's been acting out too, you know, Dean . . ." She told him quietly. "Ever since Sam left, he's been acting out. He's hurting and I . . ." She sniffed and shrugged her shoulders helplessly. "I don't know what to do!"

"What's he doing, exactly?"

"His grades are slipping; he's been skipping school – which is probably why his grades have been slipping in the first place! He doesn't care about football or basketball or whatever other sport he used to enjoy anymore, and I think . . . I think he's been out drinking every night!" Tears brimmed in her eyes again as she put a hand to her mouth and gazed at him. "I don't know what to do with him anymore Dean!"

And as if they had summoned Lucifer himself with mere words, the front door opened and slammed shut and they heard booted footfalls on the wood floor of the hallway leading to the kitchen. "Hey mom, I'm home!" He yelled as he turned the corner and his eyes fell onto Dean sitting across from her. He nodded in greeting, a smile lighting up his handsome face, and Dean was temporarily taken aback by how much he looked like Sam on sight. There was no doubt in his mind that Sam was his father. "Hey uncle Dean, what are you doing here?"

Dean grinned his customary charming grin, and weakly waved back. "Hey buddy! I just . . . I came by to see how your mom's been doing . . ." He spoke, nodding to a hunched over Issa sitting across from him. Jason's eyes immediately flitted to his mom's tear-filled ones, and he smiled and plopped his book bag down on the floor before he moved over to her and pressed a loving kiss to her cheek. She closed her eyes and another tear leaked out from underneath her closed eyelid as she hugged him to her for a moment. He broke apart and patted Dean on the shoulder before he climbed the stairs to the second floor, and eventually, to his bedroom, where they heard the door slam moments later. Dean turned to Issa, who was silently shaking her head in misery.

"I'm afraid that was a show for you. Sometimes I feel like he would rather slit his own throat than show me any sort of affection as his mother . . ." She told him and Dean shook his head as he got up and kneeled down in front of her.

"Issa don't say that! Jason loves you - he's your _son_! He's just . . . he's having an adjustment period now that Sam's gone! He'll get better, I swear!" Issa sighed and wiped away her tears with the corner of the sweatshirt's sleeve.

"I know he does, but sometimes . . . sometimes it's just so _damn_ hard to tell!" She turned a pleading gaze onto him. "He's always looked up to you Dean! He's always respected you, even more than he has Sam! You could always get him to do things when Sam failed! Could you . . . could you maybe talk to him for me . . . try to make him see sense again?" She asked him and Dean nodded as he took her hands in his, trying vainly to warm the frigid flesh for a moment.

"Of course I will, Issa!" He told her before he kissed her hands, rubbing them between his own, and she gazed at him thankfully.

"Thanks Dean, but . . . I don't think that's gonna work." She told him as he stood and smiled a small smile.

"Tell you what! You make us a fresh pot of coffee, and I'll go have that much needed talk with Jason!" He told her cheerfully, and she smiled and nodded as she stood and moved over to the coffeemaker sitting on the counter. Dean turned around then, where he moved over to the staircase leading to the second floor. _Molly Hatchet_floated out from underneath Jason's closed door, and Dean smiled and shook his head. Well . . . at least Jason had the luck to inherit Dean's choice in music.

He reached the door and rapped a knuckle on the wood. "Go away!" Jason's voice called from the other side, and Dean furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"Uh, its uncle Dean . . ."

There was silence from the other side for a moment before the music shut off and the door opened, revealing an expressionless Jason. Dean smiled weakly. "Can we talk?" He asked, and Jason shrugged as he turned around and led the way inside the room, Dean gazing around the space as he went. Posters of vintage cars, 80's metal bands and Swimsuit models were tacked on the wall, with a TV in a corner hooked up to a Playstation 3 surrounded by cases and cases of videogames. The room was an atypical fifteen to sixteen-year-old room except for the dresser. On the dresser stood a framed photograph of Jason and Sam at the end of the only football game of Jason's that Sam had managed to get himself to go to. Jason was sweaty and still dressed in his gear, Sam looking dapper and neat in his law suit as he hugged Jason to him with one arm. But despite everything, the both of them looked . . . more than happy. The both of them held beams on their faces - Jason seemed almost excited that his dad was there and Sam . . . Sam looked beyond proud of his only son.

"I guess . . ."

Dean grinned. "'I guess'? Oh come on, I just want to talk to you for a minute!" He spoke as he joined Jason on the edge of his bed. "First off, how are you . . . coping with all this?" He asked him hesitantly, and Jason shrugged.

"Okay, I guess. It's hard, but . . . I'll survive." He told him, and Dean nodded.

"I know what you mean by surviving. Sam was my brother, Jason, and I know as well you and your mom does on how hard it is to lose him!" He told him. "God knows I've lost him many times already." Jason sighed and nodded.

"Yeah . . . dad told me a lot about what you guys did before him and mom left . . . what you continue to do. . ." Dean gazed at him in interest bordering on shock. Sam almost never discussed their demon hunting days now that he and Issa no longer did it, and it surprised him that he talked about it with Jason of all people!

"What did he say, exactly?"

"He told me that you hunted evil – demons, ghosts and stuff like that - to protect innocents. He said that he was your partner when you guys were younger, and that was how he and mom met. He said it was . . . also the family business, of sorts." Dean nodded.

"Yeah, you could say that. Our dad – your grandfather – taught us how to do it, and in turn, we taught a little bit of it to your mom." Jason nodded and looked down at the ground. Dean gently nudged him in the side. "Why are you being disrespectful to your mom, Jason? She's got a lot on her plate and struggling because of it. She doesn't deserve your disrespect." He asked him quietly, and Jason sighed.

"I know, I just . . . for a long time I didn't know what to think about her and now that dad has left us, I . . . I still don't know what to think, I guess." He spoke, a tad guiltily, and Dean knitted his brows together in confusion.

"What do you mean you don't know what to think of her?"

"A week before dad left, I overheard him and mom fighting. It was one of the worst fights I had ever heard them have – and they never had fights! Well, I eavesdropped a little bit and I heard him . . . accuse her of something." He told him and Dean gazed at him, his face not losing his curiosity to leave his face.

"He accused your mom of what?" He asked him slowly, and Jason glanced at him.

"Well, it wasn't really mom he accused it of, it was more of me, but anyway . . . he accused me of being . . . he accused mom of you being my real father because I acted like you and at the time, I took most of my looks from you . . ." He spoke hesitantly, and Dean froze. His eyes widened in shock. There had been rumors . . . _many_ rumors over the years of how Jason acted while growing up that made many people wonder if Dean _was _actually Jason's father, and not Sam! But as he grew older and more into his looks – Sam's looks – those rumors gradually went away until they disappeared completely. Quite frankly, Dean was shocked that Sam still suspected such things, speaking he had vehemently denied them when they were around.

Dean sighed as Jason gazed at him expectantly, anxiously, his eyes pleading with him to tell him the truth – the truth that no one else was willing to give him at that moment. He clamped a hand on Jason's shoulder. "Jason, when we first met your mother, we were young and we were stupid – we were all _very_ stupid! Your mother loved your father to death, but there were some things that your mother just couldn't tell your father right off the bat. So . . . she took me to one of these secrets and that night, when we got a hotel room together so we didn't have to drive all night to get back to your father, we . . ." Dean sighed, a slightly pained look on his face. Even now, the fact that he had betrayed Sam in the worst possible way pained him. "Well, there's no easy way to say this, but . . . we made love that night. A few weeks later, she figured out that she was pregnant with you and at first she didn't know who the father of you was - me or Sam. And . . . I _know_ that sounds really bad, Jason, but . . . you _gotta_ understand that things were much different back then! We didn't know if we were gonna die the next day or live, and . . . it was only _one_ time! It was _one_ time that made us feel so damn guilty about it, that it never happened again!"

The last statement was a lie . . . it was a cruel, _cruel_ lie, but Jason didn't exactly need to know the fact that at one point they had, had something of a . . . 'group' relationship.

"So . . . you _are just _my uncle?" He asked slowly, so that he could the facts straight and Dean grinned and nodded.

"Yes, Jason, I _am_ just your uncle, and Sam _is_ your father! But honestly, don't blame your mother for it! Like I said, Jason, we were young and stupid – like _you_ have been lately! What is this I hear about your grades slipping, you don't care about sports anymore and you're skipping school to go drink with your asshole buddies?" He asked, thumping him on the back, and Jason shrugged again. "You know your dad wouldn't like that!"

"I don't know, I guess . . . I was just wondering . . . If I could do what you do, eventually. You know . . . hunt evil and stuff." He spoke hesitantly as he turned his gaze up onto Dean, and Dean visibly recoiled in shock.

"W-what did you just ask me?"

Jason gave a half-shrug. "I mean, yeah, why not? It's practically the family business – your one of the best, so it's not like I'm gonna be learning the wrong things and . . . and my dad did it! Maybe if I learned to do what he did, I could better understand why he left it!" He spoke, and Dean swallowed heavily.

"I don't think your mom would like that, Jason -"

"Well then she could come with us!" He interrupted him, his eyes shining in excitement as he pieced together the plan in his head. "We could leave any day we wanted and-and . . . well, there's just not life here for us anymore, uncle Dean, you know that! Dad left us here - that's all! Mom doesn't have a job, we're about to lose the house – I only have school -!"

"Yes, and that's exactly why she's not going to want you to do this!" Dean interrupted him loudly, so that the young man was forced to sputter to a stop. "She would want you to finish school first, Jason! You'll be eighteen then, free to make your own choices, and if you wanted to do what I do instead of going to college like your dad did, then that'd be your decision! But right now, being fifteen, you'd need your mother's permission to drop out of school, and there's no way in _Hell_ that she would allow you to do that!" Dean shook him gently then. "You _know_ that!" Jason nodded glumly.

"Yeah, you're right . . ." He admitted reluctantly, and Dean smiled as he wrapped an arm around his shoulders and hugged him.

"I should go and probably go talk to your mom real quick – she's really worried about you, Jason. You should go easy on her – this hasn't been a cakewalk for her either, you know. She lost her husband, not just your father, when Sam walked out on you guys, or was kidnapped or whatever the Hell happened to him!" He told him, and Jason nodded and at least he had the decency to have a guilty look on his face.

"Yeah, I know. It's just . . . I know he wasn't around that much, but I miss him, uncle Dean! He was my dad and when he _was _around, he was a pretty cool one! I guess I've been acting out and taking it out on mom, and I shouldn't be doing that! I know she misses him a lot because she's been crying a lot, especially when she thinks I don't see her. At night sometimes, if I'm quiet, I can hear her crying herself to sleep. I guess I just don't know how to take that yet. I can barely handle my own emotions, much less my mother's!" He confessed, and Dean nodded as he hugged him again, his eyes soft.

"I know, buddy, I know - he was my brother, after all! And she does . . . they were closer than you think!" He pressed a kiss to his temple before he stood and ruffled his hair. Jason grinned and swatted his hand away as Dean moved to the door. "So, I gotta go - check on your mom before I leave and everything. Stay in school; hugs not drugs – you know all that stuff - I hope I don't have to repeat them again!" He grinned, and Jason shook his head, grinning back.

"No, you don't uncle Dean. It'll be okay – _I'll _be okay." He promised him, and Dean smiled a small smile as he moved down the stairs and back into the kitchen. Issa was standing in front of the kitchen sink, gazing out the window as the coffeemaker gurgled beside her, and she jumped when Dean reentered the room. She gazed at him uneasily, and when he smiled a small smile and nodded, that look of uneasiness was quickly replaced by one of clear relief. She ran into his arms, where she hugged him to her tightly.

"Oh thank you, Dean!"

He hugged her back, tightly, breathing in deeply her scent of gardenias. "You're welcome, Issa. I just couldn't stand by and see my brother's family fall apart before my very eyes without trying to do anything about it!" They broke apart and he sighed. "One of the main things that was bothering him, was that . . . he was confused over who his father was." He spoke, and Issa's face fell.

"Oh God . . . he overheard us fighting that one time, didn't he?" Dean nodded.

"Yeah . . ."

"Oh God, Dean - we thought we had been quiet, but we weren't completely sure, and neither me nor Sam wanted to ask him in case we were wrong and he didn't hear anything! Oh, God, does he hate me?" She asked him, her eyes fearful, and he shook his head.

"No. I told him that Sam was his father and that he shouldn't hold it against you because things were different back then," He then craned his head into her. "Sam _is _his father right . . .?"

Issa gritted her teeth as she playfully slapped him on the arm. "Goddammit Dean, you know he is!" She told him grinning, and he grinned and laughed as well.

"Well, I didn't want to lie to him!" He spoke, and Issa grinned and shook her head as she moved out of his embrace, but stopped when his hand grabbed gently ahold of hers. She stopped and turned her wide eyes onto him. "There's another thing, Issa . . ." She nodded.

"What is it?"

"He wants to be a Hunter."


	3. Chapter 2

**Yay, more than one chapter in a day, I'm on a roll! :)**

**Okay, there is a lemon in this chapter - the first of the story actually, so of course I'm kinda anxious on what you think of it. First lemons are especially important, I feel, and I do think I did pretty good on this one, but as always, I love feedback :)**

**And oh yeah, one last thing . . . is it just me or does Dean SOOOOO look like he would taste like Sweetarts and cherry pie? ;)**

* * *

"Absolutely not – that is never, _ever_ going to happen!" Issa spoke in disbelief as she laughed a little. But when she saw the look on Dean's face, that laughter left her and she immediately gazed at him in shock. "Dean, no – don't you _dare_ -!"

"And why can he not be a Hunter, Issa? Jason knows what he wants – and this just happens to be what he wants!"

Issa let out a bark of a laugh. "Dean, he's fifteen-fucking-years-old, he don't know what he wants yet! He wants Megan Fox and Kim Kardashian in bikinis serving his every whim! He doesn't know what he wants his career to be yet!" Dean arched an eyebrow at her.

"Is that really what you think? Issa, Sam tried controlling what that boy wanted – _just_ like our dad did for Sam – for the first twelve years of his life, and look what kind of relationship that got them in the end – on _both_ accounts!" Dean shook his head in exasperation. "He _wants_ to learn how to Hunt so that he can learn more about his father! He thinks that if he learned what we did when we were younger – what _I_ still do – then he will learn what made Sam the way he was and why he made the two of you leave!" Issa stared at him with an expressionless look on her face.

"How can you ask me to put him in so much danger so early in his life?" She asked him in disbelief. "This is completely different from what John did to you and Sam, Dean! He was your only parent – your only family member! He was all you had – you two didn't have a fucking choice! However, Jason _has _a choice! And besides, he's my only son – _Sam's _only child, Dean!" Dean shook his head as he approached her, his hands moving to gently grasp her upper arms.

"He's my nephew and you know that I would not let _anything_ hurt him! Not-to-mention, I love you Issa, you know I would never do anything to hurt _you_ – which means not allowing anything to hurt _him_!" Issa threw his hands off of her and turned a betrayed gaze up onto him. He recoiled slightly at the gaze.

"If you loved me, Dean . . . you would never, in a million years, condone this! You know how dangerous and hard what you do is – how your constantly in fear of being chased by the police and the FBI and God only knows what the fuck else! Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if you're being chased by the Yakuza, the Italian Mafia and the fucking Illuminati as well! How could you possibly want that kind of life for Jason?" She asked him bitterly, and he swallowed, his jaw tensing in anger.

"I didn't _condone_ it, Issa! He suggested it and I told him that you wouldn't like it if he didn't finish school first!" He told her tersely. "I did what you asked me to do – I talked to him, I think I got him back on the right track and then some! I didn't have to do that – I didn't _have _to explain the very awkward reason as to why I couldn't possibly be his father!"

"Your right, you didn't – so why the _fuck_ did you?" She snapped back at him, her eyes storming over in anger. "Or is it something along the same line as that night at the hotel and then every time _after _that? Did you talk to my son for the same reason that you fucked me? Sam had something you wanted and didn't have it; so naturally, you wanted something to lord over his head – something that you _still_ want to do, even though he's gone and possibly dead?" Dean shook his head, swallowing heavily.

"You were never something to lord over his head, Issa – you meant too much to me. I felt horrible the next morning when I realized what happened – what _we_ did! When he left you and put you in so much damn agony after Andreea told him, I almost _wanted_ to die! I thought I wouldn't be able to live with that . . . that memory of you without seeing it fringed with guilt – a memory I should have been able to cherish. And then when we . . . made that _deal_, I always felt . . . horrible after, even though Sam knew and was fine with it. I felt like you should have been with him and not me . . . I guess that's why I eventually backed out of it." He looked up when he finished and saw tears filling her eyes. She refused to look at him and looked down at the black and white linoleum floor underneath their feet instead.

"You had no idea how much it hurt me to see you with Andreea back then, and then eventually with Cassie . . ." She confessed quickly, her voice small and the words coming out quick, like word vomit, and Dean's face softened. "I don't know why it hurt so much. I loved – _love _Sam – with all my heart, and . . . seeing you with Andreea and then later with Cassie should have made me feel relieved, because then you wouldn't have tempted me and not-to-mention, you had someone to divert all those attentions onto, but . . ." She shook her head. "I only felt worse. I felt jealous, and . . . when Andreea died and Cassie divorced you, I -"

She was interrupted by Dean moving closer to her, where he pressed his lips to hers. Her lips immediately molded to his and she kissed him back with as much vigor as he was showing her, her hands moving to grip his shoulders. When they slowly broke apart moments later, she gently ran her fingers over his lips, her teary eyes moving up to hold his. They silently pleaded with him, her beautiful big brown doe eyes wide and begging. "This is wrong . . . everything inside me is _screaming _that this is so wrong! Please tell me that this is wrong, Dean! Please tell me that we need to stop this!" She begged him, and he silently shook his head as he grasped her wrist and kissed each pad of each of her fingers, his journey ending at the heart of her palm, where they lingered for a moment.

So even though he knew what would happen after – how much they would end up hating each other and themselves - he ended up making his choice. His hands ended up framing her face, his mouth immediately finding hers, hard and hot and wet as he manipulated her lips open with his tongue and as her hands came up to grasp his shoulders again. His skin was taut and heated against hers, his muscles jumping underneath the pads of her fingertips and the warmth . . . oh God, the _warmth_ was _so _intoxicating, no matter how miniscule it was! She felt herself practically become drunk off it!

The scent of rain slipping through the screen door pervaded the room, alongside the slight gusts of coolness that accompanied it, but she was close enough to him that it didn't matter - all she could smell was Dean - all _Curve _cologne and that musky male scent that was so unique to every man. He tasted exactly like she remembered him tasting, too – all _Sweetarts_ and cherry pie. When his tongue dragged across the roof of her mouth, her knees gave out just a little, just like they did all the other nights they had slept together. She would have fallen to her knees before him but he caught her before she could, bringing her closer to him until it felt like the both of them occupied the same spot in the universe.

And oh by God, she had forgotten how much she had missed him!

The fingers of his left hand fisted in the large wealth of her ebony-colored hair while his right moved between their bodies - with some difficulty given how closely she was clinging to him – to peel off layer after layer of sweatshirts hanging off her voluptuous frame, and she let go of him before she could convince herself not to, just so she could tug off the clothing entirely. The air in the room was cold on her skin, but she was so hot inside, that the temperature barely registered to her.

Then, with a startled gasp, she realized that she was actually warm for once . . . warm with Dean's warmth instead of Sam's, and though she knew she should push him away at that (Push him _very _far away! Her mind screamed), she didn't. The heat did little to dull the feeling of his palm as it pressed against her breast, however, as the pad of his thumb skated over her nipple, and she gasped into his mouth as it pebbled underneath his amorous touch.

When he broke their kiss, she was left panting from a combination of lack of air and burning need. His lips parted on her neck and his breath was hot and moist against her skin, sending an anticipatory shudder down her spine. He gave a low chuckle at her reaction and she, in response, twisted his hair in her fingers, tightening her grip just enough to sting slightly. The hiss that left his throat eventually turned into a growl against the column of her neck, and she smirked in response. The smirk didn't last for long, however, because he retaliated by quickly unsnapping her jeans, smoothly pulling them off her and then promptly delving his hand in-between her thighs.

When he touched her, she was already damp with need, and Dean gave a low rumble of hungry approval before he got down on his knees in front of her and hooked her knees over his shoulders. He wasted no time in eagerly opening his mouth over her small bundle of nerves as two of his fingers slid quickly into her. His tongue flicked at her teasingly and she bit down on her lower lip and stifled back the moan he was sure was rising within her with the speed of fiery lava – lava that sent bolts of warmth shooting throughout her body, nonetheless. He glared up at her and a smirk tugged at the corners of her mouth. His fingers moved smoothly in and out of her, and he waited until she was lulled into the easy, even rhythm of it before he gently dragged his teeth over the flesh covering her nub. Her hips bucked reflexively, almost throwing him off of her, and she let out a keening moan that ended abruptly into a yelp as she curved it off so as not to alert Jason as to what was going on between his mother and uncle in the kitchen, but he managed to recover his rhythm fairly easily enough.

"You're _such_ an _asshole_, Dean!" She murmured breathlessly, grinning down at him although her eyes were slightly angry, and he grinned wolfishly against the smooth skin on the inside of her thigh as he closed his eyes and breathed in deeply the scent of her, feeling his cock harden at the delicious smell and his mouth to water reflexively.

When he felt her inner muscles start to clench warningly around his fingers, he withdrew them and she felt new waves of warmth spread through her lower stomach that ended in a puddle between her legs again as she watched Dean sensually lick his fingers clean of her juices. He let out an 'mmm' of contentment as he savored her, his eyes closing in bliss. Issa's cheeks were flushed with impending orgasm, her swollen lips parted and her breath escaping in heated little pants.

He picked her up, her legs automatically wrapping around his waist as he balanced her weight in his arms against the wall. He grinned as he nuzzled her, their lips connected lazily for a moment. "And here I thought I would never taste anything better than pie!" He murmured playfully and she rolled her eyes in impatience. He chuckled and was about to let go of her to undo his own pants when she did it for him, her hands impatiently batting his away. She reached into the cloth and withdrew his cock, already fully erect. She gave him a stroke and he responded by kissing her - hot, wet, and thorough – which was altogether encouraging. After she dragged her thumb teasingly over the head of his cock, he roughly pushed her hand away, tilted her hips up toward him, and thrusted into her with one slick, fluid movement.

He planted himself as far into her as he could get. Her head fell back against the wall as she broke their kiss and released a throaty moan. He transplanted his lips back onto her neck, feeling her pulse beat wildly in the column of her throat. That pulse only sped up as he found his rhythm - quick and hard and relentless – like it always had been.

He ended up fucking her there - against the wall of the kitchen that she and Sam had bought when they first got married three months after Jason was born . . . the kitchen that they had stood in when Sam had disappeared.

Issa whimpered his name over and over again, like some sort of prayer that came unbidden to her slightly parted lips. Dean responded in kind, murmuring against her throat - her name, confessions of love - all interspersed with a little dirty talk for good measure that had her biting down on her bottom lip with mounting desire. His hand slipped between them, his palm splaying over her abdomen as his thumb found her nub again. He stroked it in quick little figure eight's as she clung to his shoulders, rocking her hips into each of his hard thrusts.

He remembered the sexy, whimpering moan she gave a split second before she came, barely managing to smother the keening moan with his mouth in time to keep Jason unaware of what they were doing in the kitchen. She clenched around him, her inner muscles rippling around his cock as she rode out the orgasm, and he kept right on thrusting, trying to draw out the heavenly sensations as long as he could.

Just as her own orgasm was subsiding, Dean's climax wracked through his body. He held her tightly as the orgasm washed over him, and when it finally passed, he pressed a tired kiss to her sweat-dampened temple.

For a few minutes, he just stood there between her legs, Issa still supported in his arms against the wall. When his breathing returned to normal and he was pretty sure he could move without his knees giving out from underneath him, he relaxed a bit and dropped his forehead to her shoulder.

"We should probably go up to the bedroom. . ." She spoke, her voice soft and regretful that they couldn't just collapse onto the nearby table.

"Yeah, we probably should. But not your bedroom - you have a guest bedroom?"

"Yeah, why do you ask?" Dean shook his head.

"I don't want to sleep with you in the same bed that Sam had . . . I feel like I would be crossing some kind of line again . . ." He told her, and she nodded in understanding and moved to get down, but he firmly held her in place with his hands on her thighs. When she turned a shocked look on him, he returned it with another wolfish grin. "Now just where are you going?"

"You wanted to go to the guest bedroom, didn't you . . .?" She asked him in clear confusion, and he nodded.

"I do . . . but that doesn't mean I can't carry you there!" He told her, and she grinned as he pulled out of her and scooped her up in his arms, where he climbed the stairs to the guest bedroom. Issa's arms were around his neck and she nuzzled him.

"Dean . . .?"

"Yeah, Issa . . .?" He asked as they entered the guest room and he deposited her on the fluffy bed after kicking the door closed. He collapsed beside her seconds later, his chest still heaving with exertion. Issa was a small woman but still! Carrying her up the stairs was hard work!

"I'm warm . . ."

His eyes shot onto her with shock. "Is that . . . are you okay?" Issa laughed and nodded as she put a hand to her forehead. It was endearing, how much Dean worried for her. He worried for her more than Sam did half the time!

"Yeah, I feel fine . . . I just don't exactly know what it means! _That's _the part that scares me!" Dean swallowed heavily.

"Does it mean that . . . he's dead?" He asked, and Issa stayed silent for a moment before she slowly shook her head.

"Sam's not dead - at least I don't think so. I would know if was dead, because . . . I would feel such sudden, indescribable pain, that I would not be able to breathe, much less have enough energy to sleep with you. He's alive and breathing, Dean . . . and he's _somewhere_ out there – I know it!" Dean nodded and turned to gaze up at the ceiling.

"If he's alive, then that means we cheated . . . _again_!" He spoke, somewhat bitterly, and Issa rolled over onto her side, where she gently picked up the silver pendant of Sam's that he always wore and observed it for a moment. He watched her with a soft eye – watched as indiscernible emotions flickered across her eyes - at the beauty of her after their lovemaking . . .

And suddenly, Dean knew right at that moment, with absolute certainty, that if Sam _did_ leave her for another woman . . . that he would kill him.

"I don't know what to think anymore, Dean. I love Sam to death, I really, really do, but then there is always _you_! There have always been _you_! No matter how I act, you're always somewhere in the picture. I have so many feelings for you that . . . they always get in the way of so many things between both our lives and with Sam . . ." She shook her head as she dropped the necklace and allowed him to bring her into his loving, protective embrace, where she snuggled into his chest. He shushed her, promising that they would talk more about it later.

He smelled like her . . . like her perfume, like her sweat . . .

And she found that she loved it.


	4. Chapter 3

**This chapter kinda put me on a little writer's block of sorts. I knew the concept I wanted but the problem was that I didn't know how to tie it together and write it. Eventually I did and I got this. I think its decent, but then again, writer's have a tendency to doubt themselves :)**

**Okay, I know I have been taking certain liberties with this story. For instance, I know Bobby's dead, but in my fandom, Bpbby isn't dead, so . . . yeah, which means that technically, other people could still be alive. Don't know if any of those dead people will come back from the dead, but hey, I did say this fanfic would random, didn't I? ;)**

**Jason's relationship wtih Issa is a LOT better in this chapter and I know it seems kinda sudden (hopefully it isn't as clear as I think it is) but really, I kinda want Jason to fill in Sam's role in this fanfiction (Hunter, wise), which explains why I wrote that he looks so much like him, but I don't know . . . it might work out that, it might not XD. **

**Kinda left it at a cliffhanger at the end. Don't really like doing that so I'll be sure to hurry up and update :)**

* * *

"I have a question for you, if you'd oblige me . . ."

Issa grinned and laughed as Dean sat up in the bed that next morning, the covers falling to pool around his waist as she busied herself with tying the drawstring of her robe around her waist. "Go ahead . . ."

"Why didn't you and Sam have any more kids after Jason? I mean, the both of you are still young – your thirty-six, Sam's thirty-eight . . ." He trailed off when he saw Issa's movements slow until they stopped completely.

"Well, we _did_ try for another one . . . a few years back after Jason was born, actually. We tried so _damn_ hard Dean, but . . . it just never happened," She shook her head then. "I got pregnant _once_ and . . . I ended up losing her. After that, I said no more and he respected the decision. We considered adoption but that always fell through too in some stupid way!"

"So it was a girl?" Dean spoke and Issa nodded.

"Yeah . . . I was five months pregnant when I lost her on the floor of our bathroom." She finished quietly, nodding down the hallway to the master bath, and Dean's gaze was mournful as he gazed at her.

"Issa, I'm so sorry!" He spoke quietly, and Issa shrugged.

"Don't be, it's not your fault. The odds just weren't in our favor, I guess," She grinned half-heartedly then and chuckled. "And you wanna know what the weird thing is? When you were Asa and I was Charlotte and we were living through the Civil War in South Carolina, we had seven children, Dean. We had five boys and two girls – Jensen, Leah, Jarred, Garrett, David, Sarah and Joscelin. All the boys but two died in the war with you – leaving just Joscelain and Garrett to come home with you . . ." She laughed a little then, her eyes narrowing in remembrance. "You brought Jarred, David and Jensen back with you in coffins, and Joscelain and Garrett on the train and we buried them out back in the apple orchard. I remember that you cried during the service. It was the only time that I ever saw you cry in front of me . . ." She then shook her head again and turned her eyes onto him. "And then, when we were Alexander and Miranda, we had just two kids, but still, Dean – we _never_ had trouble conceiving!"

"You and Sam didn't have trouble with Jason!" He reminded her, and she let out a scoffing laugh.

"Sometimes I think that was partly from divine intervention!" She confessed to him quietly and somewhat bitterly as she shook her head and as he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Children for Fallen Angels are rare, Dean. Our bodies are busy getting used to not having our powers – our immortality, and then getting used to the Warmth, which is like a completely new drug being introduced. The body can barely handle it – almost like a drug addict with his withdrawals, much less be able to support a growing child! And by the time it's all over . . . we're such frail beings that pregnancy is almost a miracle in and of itself, which explains why most Fallen Angels don't have children until they are well into their middle thirties – human years, of course. Of course, it's different for men, but for women, it's hard. It's a wonder I got pregnant with Jason to begin with." She glanced at him then. "I'm gonna go downstairs. Get coffee ready before Jason comes down for the bus to school. Are you coming?" Dean nodded but waved a hand in her direction.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be down in a minute. Just . . . give me a few minutes, okay?" Issa smiled a small smile and nodded as she padded from the room, leaving Dean alone sitting on the bed where they had committed an affair for the second time since they've known each other. He sighed and rubbed his face with his hands. He loved his brother and he wished for nothing more for he to return home safe, but in a weird, twisted way, he prayed that Sam wouldn't come back . . . because this time, there was no doubt in Dean's mind that Sam would kill him.

* * *

"So, I told the teacher that since dad's been gone, there have been a lot of things to do around the house and I haven't had the time -"

"Jason honey, you failed the test, didn't you?" Issa asked him, a slight smile on her face. He beat around the bush like she did a little . . . not very Sam and certainly not very Dean. Jason smiled sheepishly back.

"I promise I'll do better next time!" He promised her, and Issa grinned and laughed.

"Well, you know yourself Jason, that I would like nothing better than that!" She told him as she turned around to place a plate of eggs and bacon in front of him. The sounds of heavily booted feet could be heard descending the stairs from the second floor, and Dean appeared in the kitchen pulling on his leather jacket. Issa blanched when she saw him.

"Y-you're leaving . . ?" She asked him and he smiled softly.

"Only for a little while, I promise. Bobby called me not five minutes ago after I got out of the shower and told me that there's a potential mission nearby."

"What does it look like?" She asked, and Dean shrugged as he moved over to the frying pan sitting on the counter and picked up a strip of bacon. He bit into it and chewed for a minute before swallowing and answering her.

"He doesn't know yet. Says it looks like a ghost haunting but he's not entirely certain yet. There are some differences between this one and the others we've seen in the past." He spoke, and she furrowed her eyebrows in slight confusion.

"Is it a poltergeist? It could be a possession too. Of course, if it was a possession, you'd have to do an exorcism and Sam was always particularly good at that so you'll possibly have to do some of your famous quickshot-plan-B'ing!" She asked, and Dean grinned and chuckled.

"Well, good thing I got you, then – you're the next best thing! If I need someone to perform a particularly nasty exorcism, I suppose I always have you!" He joked and she shot him a playfully mean look.

"You know I don't hunt anymore!" She told him and Dean shrugged as he pulled her into an embrace. Both knew well no to show any other form of affection in front of Jason, and Issa's arms lovingly enfolded around his neck. She would certainly take that.

"You come back, you hear . . .?" She asked him quietly, and he nodded.

"I planned on it, Issa, even if you didn't!" He told her back and she smiled a small smile as they broke apart. He gazed at her in concern. "You'll be fine until I get back, right?" He asked her and she nodded.

"Yeah, I think I will. Weather's been warming up a little bit so hopefully that would help!" She told him, and Dean nodded and grinned as he moved over to Jason and patted him on the back.

"Don't worry buddy, I'll work on her coming around to the whole hunting thing . . ." He promised him and Jason grinned and nodded as Issa shot him a look.

"Dean . . .!" She spoke warningly, and the oldest Winchester grinned and winked before he waved, said his goodbyes and headed for the front door, shouting that he would back in a few hours. Issa and Jason both stayed in the kitchen and when the front door slammed shut, Jason turned a sly gaze onto his mom.

"Mom, is there something you need to tell me?" He asked, and Issa shook her head as she turned back to the sink.

"No, nothing in particular . . . why?" She asked and Jason laughed.

"Mom, I might be young, but I'm also in highschool! I know puppy love when I see it and mom – uncle Dean has the puppiest puppy love I've ever seen for you!" He laughed and Issa grinned and shrugged.

"Jason, Dean's always been that way. He's always been charming – he's always flirted! Don't take it that way . . . I love your father . . ." Jason nodded as he started finishing up his food.

"I didn't say that you didn't, mom! I'm just saying that you don't have to hide a lot from me anymore. I'm your son; I'll love you no matter what you do!" He spoke gently as he stood and moved over to the sink, where he handed her his plate and silverware. She took it from him and set it down in the soapy water in the sink before them as Jason drained his orange juice in one sitting.

Issa felt tears prickle in her eyes at his words nonetheless. It had been the most loving thing her son had said to her in a while and she wiped ineffectually at her tears with the back of her hand. Maybe Dean had been right . . . maybe he had gotten to Jason more than she had originally thought he would.

"And you know, I'm not blind either, mom," Jason continued quietly. "Uncle Dean has stars in his eyes when he looks at you . . . he always has. Even when I was a kid celebrating Christmas with you guys over here or at Uncle Bobby's, he _still_ had stars in his eyes whenever he talked to you!" Issa smiled and shrugged.

"Nothing will ever come of it, Jason!" She spoke, and even she halfway believed it. She felt deep in her bones that Sam was still alive, someone out there. And if she knew Sam, she knew he would be fighting tooth and nail to get back to them - to her! Also, she didn't doubt that this 'mission' Bobby had planned out, was really Dean lying to her in order to follow up on fresher leads that would hopefully lead to the missing Sam. Dean and Issa might have slept together the previous night, but Sam was still his brother and like Sam would fight tooth and nail to get back to them, Dean would fight tooth and nail to _find _him!

"Mom, you don't have to feel like you can lie to me to protect me anymore!" He told her, a little bit in exasperation. "I'm old enough to handle it now!" Issa sighed and turned her eyes up to her son. That's right – _up_. He was easily Dean's height now at fifteen years of age, and like Sam, she knew he was nowhere near stopping.

"Jason, it in a mother's nature to strive to protect her children!" She told him quietly. "I, your father and your uncle have a past – a _dangerous_ path! When I don't tell you something, it isn't because I think you're not old enough to handle it, it's because it might have the potential to be dangerous and as a mother, I want to protect you!" She shook her head. "Can you honestly hold that against me?"

Jason stood there for a minute and thought. Finally, he shook his head. "No . . . no I can't," He spoke quietly, and Issa smiled a small smile.

"When I think you're ready, I'll tell you, okay? I'll tell you _everything_!" Jason's eyebrows rose.

"You really will? You will tell me _everything_?" Issa nodded.

"I promise . . . _everything_! Now hurry and get outside or you'll miss the bus!" She scolded him gently as she brushed a speck of dust off of his shirt and herded him towards the front door. He scooped up his backpack as they went.

"Are you going to be okay while I'm gone?" He asked in concern, voicing the same question Dean did, and Issa turned a loving gaze up to him.

"Jason, I'll be fine, I promise!" She told him as she grasped her son by the shoulders and pulled him down to her so that she could plant a loving kiss on his forehead. "Dean should be back in a couple of hours like he said he would. I promise that I'll be fine!" Jason nodded.

"Okay, just checking. I don't want . . ." He swallowed heavily, his eyes pained. "I don't wanna come home and find you missing like dad!" Issa turned another soft gaze onto him.

"You don't have to ever worry about that Jason! Dean will never allow that to happen again and besides! I'm a big, tough girl believe it or not, with quite a few tricks up her sleeves! I can more than protect myself in a fight!" She told him, and Jason grinned.

"I don't doubt it mom!" He laughed and Issa returned the laugh as she smoothed a lock of dark brown hair out of his eyes.

"Have a good day at school – listen, take notes, all that stuff, okay?" She asked, and he nodded.

"Don't worry, I will," He spoke as Issa opened the front door to the world beyond. She said one last goodbye to him before the school bus pulled up and Jason bounded down the steps to it, his tall lanky frame for a moment making her think that he was Sam back when they were younger . . . when everything was so easy and made so much more sense. She quietly closed the door behind him and wandered back into the kitchen, where she froze.

The scent of graveyard dirt was undeniable . . . graveyard dirt and yew.

A cold sweat broke out across her flesh and she slowly licked her lips as she gazed around her in the kitchen. Something was wrong . . . something was _very_ wrong . . .

Then, before Issa could do anything, she was slammed to the ground, letting lose a scream of shock and slight pain as she hit the hard linoleum. She felt a heaviness descend onto her back, two at her shoulderblades and two on her lower back, keeping her from going anywhere.

Then, a damp hotness appeared at her ear and a wetness dripped down onto her shoulder as a low, threatening growl rumbled in her ear. She let out a curse.

Hellhound.


	5. Chapter 4

**Okay, this is something that has always confounded me, so can someone please give me a possible explanation if I'm in the wrong somehow here. Lips of an Angel is "Complete". There will be no additions to it aside from the chapters of THIS story. I doubt I'll ever go in and re-edit it and "eptilogue" pretty much means "this story is finished"! I'm sorry if I'm being mean, but following a completed story, to me, is a waste of time because there will be NO additions to it. Its DONE! I love it when you favorite it, cause that means people are still reading it - and please, still continue to favorite it! - but as for following it, don't bother. **

**Okay, sorry for that little speal, it just got on my nerves a bit. Um, nothing really big with this chapter, its just kinda filler chapter, but you do wanna pay attention to the beginning, because that gives you a major hint as to why Sam"left", as well as to Issa's part. Jason's part isn't really important, but he does get a shock of his lifetime :)**

** Brownie points for those of you who figure it out, but for the love of God, DON'T REVIEW ABOUT IT! XD XD You'll ruin it for everyone and you'll make me sad if you do :(**

**Onward!**

**- Nagiana**

* * *

"Look . . . Dean?" Dean nodded as he followed Jackson Rimes into his office, where he took a seat in one of the comfy leather armchairs across from the lawyer, who took a seat behind his desk. The man sighed and gazed across the desk at the oldest Winchester brother sitting before him. "Look, Dean, Sam was a good guy. He was an amazing lawyer – his appeal to become Partner was almost guaranteed! That's why I put his name outside on the sign. I guess it was . . . something of a final consolation as a best friend and fellow colleague," Jackson shrugged. "When he disappeared, it shocked everyone! I especially was shocked. He was dedicated to his job and . . . well, I just never would have thought."

"Do you have any idea where he could have gone?" Dean asked him and Jackson gazed at him for a moment before speaking.

"Sam was very dedicated to this job, yes, but he was also a fanatic family man, Dean," He spoke. "He always complained that he could never get off soon enough to go his son's football games and practices and even though that seemed to be his only complaint, I'm sure he could have complained about a lot more if he wanted to!" He shook his head. "If it turns out that Sam left with another woman, I would be the first one to be shocked. His wife was his crowning joy – the apple of his eye. He never talked about another woman – wouldn't really have the time to, I suppose. As for where he could have gone . . . I have no idea."

"What do you mean?"

"Issa was all he talked about, Dean!" Jackson laughed as he sat back in his chair, which was an even comfier leather chair that just happened to also be a swivel chair as well. "Even when he had female clients that some of the lawyers here would jump at the chance to have an affair with given the chance, Sam didn't even look at them! Sure, he was a kind and courteous to them, but he never looked at them in that way!"

"Are you sure about that?" Dean asked with a raised eyebrow and Jackson gave him a frosty glare.

"As his brother, you seem to not be giving him a lot of faith . . ." He spoke slowly, and Dean shrugged.

"I'm just asking that . . . that the possibility that he had, had an affair and then left to continue that affair or to be with that woman, could not _possibly _have crossed your mind?" Jackson sat there for a moment, thinking, before he stood and moved over to the window. He gazed out into the city streets below, his hands behind his back.

"There was a moment there . . . about seven years after Jason was born, that I thought that could happen. Sam and Issa started trying to have a baby again . . ." Dean nodded, remembering the talk he had with Issa that morning . . . of how hard it had been for them to conceive a child.

"Yes, I've talked to Issa about that . . ." He spoke quietly and Jackson nodded.

"When Issa finally became pregnant, he was ecstatic! He would leave early to get home to her – to see if she was alright - would accompany her to her doctor's meetings. His career was at its pinnacle – he won every case he was handed, no matter how hard it was - he _always won it_," Jackson shook his head again. "It seemed like his life couldn't possibly get any better. He had it all – beautiful wife, a handsome, intelligent son, another baby on the way, a huge house . . ."

"What happened to it all?" Dean asked, and Jackson sighed as he returned to his desk. He remained standing but his hand fell onto the back of the chair.

"When Issa had the miscarriage, it was like everything had gone downhill. Their relationship suffered, the relationship with his son suffered – they had to downgrade to a smaller house because the grief was wrecking havoc on his work. He won fewer and fewer cases and it was like he didn't even care! As his friend, I tried to get him to see the silver lining – that couples who have a miscarriage often go on to have healthy, happy children. He didn't listen, though. He . . ." Jackson trailed off and Dean's eyebrows rose.

"He what . . .?" Jackson shook his head, his eyebrows furrowing in both thought and confusion.

"It's just . . . he kept murmuring about something when he didn't think others would notice. It was something about . . . having ten years left. I don't what it was, but it bothered him. It bothered him a lot, actually." Dean nodded slowly. People who often made deals with Crossroads Demons were given ten years to live after their deals were brokered. Could Sam have made a deal with a Crossroads Demon and thus, could only live ten more years before being dragged back down to Hell?

But what could he have possibly wanted? It was like Jackson said, he had _everything_! It was all very confusing and Dean could tell that he was going to get all that he could out of this man. Smiling thankfully, he stood and shook Jackson Rimes hand.

"Thank you for your time. Issa would have come down here herself, but . . . she's still very torn up," He spoke, and Jackson nodded in understanding.

"Yes, I understand. The amount of love between them was almost . . . God-like," He spoke, and Dean grinned and laughed. Yeah, he didn't say?

They said their final goodbyes and Dean left the office of Rimes and Winchester, Attorneys at Law. He shook his head as he went and when he got to his Impala, his cellphone rang. Picking it up, he answered it, only to find Bobby on the other end of the line.

"Hey Bobby, what's up?" Dean asked, grinning, although when Bobby answered him, he didn't sound in a joking, small talk mood.

"Dean, there's something weird going on!" He spoke, and the grin immediately dissolved from Dean's face.

"What's wrong?"

"Crossroads Demons are – for some reason – congregating around your area right now," He spoke and Dean could picture him shaking his head in frustration or bewilderment. "I don't know why! There are barely _any _crossroads where you're at, so it doesn't make sense!" Dean shrugged.

"Then why are they here? Your right, it doesn't make sense. You know, I'll check it out, but I gotta go -" He spoke, about to hand up, but Bobby interrupted him.

"There's another thing! From my research I'm garnering something that's – _Holy shit_!"

Dean jumped in awareness. "Bobby, what is it?" He asked in alarm and Bobby swallowed heavily. "Dean, they're congregating around the highschool and the place where Sam used to live with Issa and Jason. Dean, _they're going after Issa and Jason_!"

Not even bothering to say goodbye, Dean pressed the end button on his cellphone and hopped into the Impala. Without giving a second thought as to what he was doing, he pulled out of the parking lot and drove not to the house where Issa was, but to the school where Jason was currently at. Jason was defenseless, whereas Issa still had some of her Archangel powers. If he didn't save Jason first and he went missing or died, he had no doubt that Issa would shove her boot so far up his ass, he would be drinking water off her toe!

* * *

Issa gritted her teeth and grunted in frustration as she tried desperately to buck the Hellhound off of her. He was heavy, though . . . heavy and very, very angry.

"For the love of God, get off of her!"

Issa drew silent as the voice cut through the air. She heard a slight whine come in her ear before she felt the Hellhound's weight descend off of her. Gasping for breath, she turned over onto her back, only to find herself face-to-face with a Crossroads Demon - young with the atypical dark hair and red eyes. She pretty for a demon, but then again, that all determined on the body they chose to appear in.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Issa gasped out, her hand flying to her heaving chest, and the Crossroads Demon smiled.

"That's not very nice. I am a guest, after all . . ." She spoke silkily, and Issa snarled, her inner Michael coming out.

"I say breaking and entering doesn't exactly call for me treating you like a guest!" She snapped back, and the Crossroads Demon chuckled.

"Well, in that case, my name's Isabel. You're . . . Issa, aren't you?" Issa nodded as she took Isabel's hand and got to her feet. "You have a beautiful home, Mrs. Winchester."

"Yeah, thanks . . . what do you want?" Isabel gazed at her for a moment, her face expressionless.

"I want Sam." She spoke and Issa's eyebrows furrowed in slight confusion.

"Why would you want Sam for?" She asked, and Isabel smiled a tight smile.

"For obvious reasons that should be . . . well, obvious! Ten years ago, Sam struck a deal with one of my brothers at a Crossroads in Massachuetts. Now, ten years is here, but . . . we can't find him," She laughed. "He's obviously not dead or else we would have gotten the memo! No, he's alive somewhere. We can't sense him, but we know he's not dead."

"So you come to me? You come to his wife? Honey, if husbands suddenly leave and they're obviously not murdered, then _quite _obviously, it's for something else!" Issa told her coldly, although secretly inside, she was jumping for joy at hearing that he wasn't dead. Isabel slowly shook her head.

"No . . . no, he wouldn't leave you," She spoke quietly, slowly. "You were part of that deal and every Angels and Demon knew of his love for you."

Issa froze at her words, her movements stilling entirely. "I . . . I was part of that deal?" She asked in shock, and Isabel rolled her eyes and waved a hand through the air.

"Well . . . you're not a partner in the deal, so your soul cannot technically be dragged to Hell because of it. But, you were included in it. The deal contains you, as someone who would also . . ." She thought for a moment, searching for the right word. "_Benefit _from the deal, shall we say . . ."

"Well, what was the deal?" She asked, and Isabel simpered.

"I don't know. The details of a deal are known strictly between the broker – the Demon brokering the deal – and the one who wanted the deal done," She shrugged. "Sorry hun, but you're not gonna know what's in that deal unless Sam or my brother tells you!"

"Sam's not here, quite obviously!" Issa spoke coldly. She wanted this Demon to leave. She needed to call Dean and tell him what she learned. Isabel simpered again.

"See, that's the thing though! Like I stated previously, we have no idea where Sam is! So, in order to bring him into the light, we need something or someone he loves. I'm sorry, Issa, but . . . you are going to have to come with me."

* * *

"Hey Jason, are we gonna hang this afternoon?"

Jason grinned and shook his head as he walked down the near empty corridors of the highschool alongside his best friend, Oliver. "Sorry dude, but I gotta get home straight after school. Mom's not been doing so well and I wanna make sure she's okay," He spoke and Oliver rolled his eyes.

"Fine, be that way! Don't hang out with me anymore!" He spoke sarcastically and Jason grinned and laughed as he shook his head.

"Don't take it that way dude!" Jason spoke. "It's just that . . . with dad missing, mom's not been doing so well," He spoke and Oliver nodded in understanding although Jason knew he didn't. Oliver's mom was a meth-head and a notorious crack whore among other things. His dad had been out of the picture since he was two. He couldn't understand Jason's loyalties to his parents – especially his dad, who Oliver always considered a 'stick-in-the-mud'.

"Well, whatever man, but Ash is gonna be there," He spoke, and Jason glanced at him.

"Really . . .? Ash is gonna be there?" He asked in interest, immediately thinking of the girl a year above him who reminded him of Alison Lohman from _White Oleander_ . . . the dark Alison Lohman. Oliver grinned and nodded.

"Yup, she is! Apparently, she jumped at the chance when she learned that you might be there!" He spoke, thumping him on the back and no matter how much Jason wanted to go, he knew he couldn't. He was worried about his mom and even though he knew his uncle Dean would be back later that night to check on them (that, he had _no _doubt of!) he wanted to get back before then. He wanted to make she was okay.

Jason shook his head. "Dude, I can't! Tell Ash I'm sorry, but I just can't! My mom, she's -"

Oliver rolled his eyes and groaned out as he pushed Jason, the young Winchester tripping backwards to hit the row of lockers behind him. "Fine, be a damn stick-in-the-mud like your old man!" He snapped angrily as he turned and moved off down the empty corridor towards wherever the Hell he was going – most likely the tennis courts so he could smoke with their other 'friends'. Jason stood there for a moment, thinking and keeping himself from running off after him. He had promised his mom and uncle Dean he would change his act – that he would go back to getting A's and B's so he could get into a good college, like his dad would have wanted. But mostly, he had promised his mother that he would stop hanging out with the people he was hanging out now – that included people like Oliver and Ash, and his uncle Dean that he would go out for the football team again.

He kneeled down against the lockers and put his face in his hands, where he rubbed. The pressure was on now that his dad was gone (not that the pressure wasn't really off him in the first place) and he had so much to do –

He was interrupted in his thoughts by a low, menacing growling coming from down the corridor. When he brought his head up to gaze down the corridor, trying to find the source of the growling, he found nothing. His eyebrows furrowed in slight confusion as he stood.

"Hello . . .?" He called and when nothing came in response, he furrowed his eyebrows even more and took a few steps down the corridor. "This isn't funny Oliver!" He called in slight frustration. When the growling came, this time, it came from behind him and when he turned around, his eyes widened in shock. Standing behind him, menacing with size and deep red eyes, stood two Dobermans outfitted with chainlink collars that jabbed spikes into their neck with the slightest movement. As if confirming his observation, a drop of blood dripped down from within the collar, only to plop down on the tile of the high school's corridor.

Jason swallowed heavily as he slowly backed up, the dog following him with the same slow pace. "Now, now . . . good dog . . ." He spoke nervously, and when the dog growled again, bringing back lips that revealed pink gums and white teeth, he swallowed heavily again. "N-Nice doggy . . ."

The dog's growls grew louder and when he let out a bark, Jason turned on his heels and took off at a run down the corridor. He might have been a footballer in his past, but the dog had four legs compared to his two. It was gaining on him and when he stupidly tripped, falling on his stomach to the tiled floor, losing his breath as he did so. He heard the dog let out another bark and lunge for him . . .

A gunshot deafened him and he heard a loud whimper of pain that followed a heavy body slumping to the ground. Seconds later, he felt rough but gentle hands grasp him underneath his upper arms and pull him to his feet.

"Jason, you okay?" Dean asked in concern, and Jason nodded as he glanced up at the worried face of his uncle Dean, then at the loaded shotgun in his hand.

"Yeah, I'm fine . . . I'm shaken, but fine . . ." He spoke, swallowing heavily. He gazed over his shoulder at where the dog should have hit the ground when Dean shot him. There was nothing here, however, only a pool of deep blood. Dean pursed his lips and cursed.

"Dammit . . . look, we've gotta go!" He spoke as he took another rough grasp on his shoulder and steered him towards the parking lot and the black Impala that sat there.

"Uncle Dean, what was that?" He asked, not helping but to turn slightly green at what just happened, and Dean sighed and glanced behind them to see if they were being followed.

"That was called a Hellhound, Jason. For some reason, they're congregating around this town with their annoying fuckin' masters. We got to get to your mom before they corner her at the house -"

"Uncle Dean, look out!"

Dean turned around and his eyes widened in shock as another Hellhound lunged up and landed squarely on his chest, bringing the big man down to the ground. Placing the shotgun between them, he fought so the barking and snarling Hellhound couldn't place his ironclad jaws around Dean's throat.

"Jason, get to the car!" Dean shouted through grunts of exertion but he saw Jason instead make a beeline for them, determined to yank the dog off of him. "Jason, don't fuckin -!"

He abruptly cut himself off, however, when he saw Jason place his hands on the dog, ready to yank him off of him, when something _very _peculiar happened. Instead of pulling him off, the dog erupted into flames underneath Jason's hands.

Jason jumped back in shock and horror and Dean let out a disgusted sound as he pushed the dog off of him. The Hellhound landed on the ground beside them, where he was reduced to a pile of smoldering ash in mere seconds. Dean swallowed heavily as he fought to catch his breath, Jason and Dean's eyes pinned onto the pile of ash that had been the dog.

"Uncle Dean . . . what did I just do?" Jason asked him in barely held back fear and Dean shook his head.

"I . . . I don't know Jason. But I'm pretty damn sure your mom will!" He spoke as he grabbed him by his shoulder and steered him back towards the Impala behind them. "Now come on, we gotta go get her before something bad happens!"


	6. Chapter 5

**This chapter does have a lemon in it, but compared to the first one, I've toned it down a lot. Hopefully you'll like it and hopefully it adds a little something to it :)**

* * *

Issa laughed. "Are you fucking serious? I'm not going with you!" She shook her head. "Even if there is a _chance _that it will bring back Sam, you can forget it! I'll find him the hard way!" Isabel gazed at her impassively.

"You do realize that my brothers and sisters are closing in on everyone Sam has ever loved or cared for now. Your son at the highschool is most likely taken by now. Dean, if he's not taken, has been killed. Your life is falling apart, Issa, and you're too tied up with Sam's brother to even notice!" Issa gritted her teeth in irritation.

"Nice try, but I severely doubt Dean of all people, is dead!" She spoke. "Wendigos, poltergeists, djin . . . Dean's fought it all. What makes you think a couple of Crossroads Demons and their fiery Hellhounds are gonna stop him? As for my son . . . I think he can more than protect himself before Dean gets there."

"What about you?"

"What _about _me?"

"You didn't mention yourself somewhere in that little confident tirade," She chuckled and Issa shrugged.

"Oh I can more than protect myself. I'm a Fallen Archangel – I still retain some of my powers. However, I'm not going to do anything until you yourself start something. I don't want you knowing what I can do." They heard the screech of a car come from down the street, and Issa smiled a small smile. "Told you that Dean couldn't be killed," She spoke and Isabel chuckled again.

"You think he is immortal," She spoke quietly, shaking her head in slight disbelief. "You look at him with stars in your eyes and love in your heart while he fucks you and you think that, that man is a God – just like your father!" She shook her head. The car had now screeched into the driveway and they both heard the car doors slam shut and pounding feet on the walkway up to the front door."Pretty soon, though, you'll realize that Dean is very much a mortal – that he is nothing compared to the God who fathered you and raised you amidst Angels. And when that happens, you'll have a decision to make . . . although we're both pretty sure what path you'll choose."

"Fuck you . . ." Issa breathed out, her heart hammering in her chest. Is that really how she viewed Dean? She look at him the same way he looked at her – with stars in her eyes and love in her heart? Had she always looked at him that way?

Isabel smirked and glanced at the front door. "I've got to go now, but make no mistake . . . we'll be back."

She then disappeared as the front door was kicked unmercifully open, allowing a frantic Dean and Jason to run into the house. "Issa – Issa where are you?!" Dean yelled as they checked every room in the house and she swallowed heavily, getting herself under control before she shakily yelled that she was in the kitchen.

Dean was the first one into the kitchen and the look of relief that washed over his face almost blew her backwards. "Oh God, your alright!" He breathed out in relief as he crossed the distance between them and hugged her tightly. "You are alright, aren't you?" Issa nodded as she hugged him tightly back.

"Y-Yeah, I'm good. Hellhound landed on me, made me fall to the ground, but other than that, they didn't hurt me."

"Mom, you're alright!" Jason spoke, he too in clear relief, and Dean and her broke apart so that he could hug her tightly too. Issa nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Jason, what about you guys?" She asked in clear worry as she glanced at Dean and swept Jason's dark brown bangs out of his eyes. Dean shrugged.

"I'm good – they didn't seem to come after me as bad. Jason, however, had two on him!" He spoke and Issa gazed at Jason in shock.

"You had two on you?" She asked and when he nodded, she let out a relieved sigh and pulled him back in her arms again. "Oh thank God you're alright!"

"There's another thing . . ." Dean spoke, and Issa nodded as they broke apart.

"Yeah, what is it?" Jason sighed.

"Mom, when a Hellhound attacked uncle Dean at the school and I moved to pull him off, something . . . something happened with my hands . . ." He spoke as he turned them over and over before them. Issa furrowed her eyebrows together in confusion.

"What – what happened to your hands?" Jason sighed again and glanced at Dean before turning his eyes back onto her.

"I . . . I burned him. I burned him into ashes!"

It was like everything grew silent in the house and Issa blanched. "Already . . .? You're coming into your powers already?" She breathed and Jason gazed at her in bewildered confusion. Even Dean gazed at her in slight confusion. Of course, he knew that Jason being a demi-Angel, he was likely to retain _some _Angelic powers, but the way Issa put it had him slightly confused.

"Mom, what is this? What's happening to me?" He asked in slight fear and she closed her eyes and shook her head as she reached out and took his wrists.

"Jason, don't be scared, it's nothing big! It's just . . ." She glanced at Dean, who sighed himself and nodded. "Jason . . . I'm an Angel," She told him and Jason gazed at her in even more bewildered shock.

"T-that's impossible!" He breathed out and Issa shook her head.

"No, its not . . ." She then launched into the story of how she had come to Earth and met Dean and Sam. She told him of Angel's affinity for warmth and how she and Sam had Bonded based on that warmth. She told him everything, even when she had been brought back to Heaven and persuaded Gabriel to allow her to Fall back to Earth when she was pregnant with him. She told him everything . . . like she promised she would do.

When she was done, Jason was pacing up and down the kitchen while Issa and Dean sat at the kitchen table. Issa watched him with apprehension while Dean stayed on high alert. The last thing they needed right now was another attack from a few Crossroads Demons and their Hellhounds.

"_Fuck_! Is-is there are any other Angels I've grown up knowing?" Jason asked his mother sarcastically, still in slight bewilderment, but immediately blanched when he saw her apologetic look.

"Uncle Cas and Uncle Balthazar are Angels too, Jason. Balthazar is a Fallen like me, but Castiel still has his white wings," She told him. He shook his head in clear disbelief.

"Is Uncle Balthazar even your brother like I've grown up thinking?" He asked, and she shook her head.

"Not technically speaking, no. True, all Angels are related in some way, but by blood, no. He nor Castiel are Archangels, so . . . no, they are not my 'blood-brothers'." Jason blanched even further.

"Wait – you're an _Archangel_?!"

"_Was_, an Archangel, yes," She corrected him. "I was an Archangel before I Fell. My 'brothers' are Michael, Lucifer, Gabriel and Raphael. Rumor has it we are related by the same father: God, but we each have different mothers. Of course, half the time I don't believe those rumors. God never would have allowed me to have a relationship with three of them if it was true."

"Do you believe all this?" He asked Dean, who sighed and shrugged.

"Believe it? Jason, I witnessed half of it! Not-to-mention, I was there when Sam put Michael and Lucifer back in the Cage – when Gabriel and Raphael met their ends – when Castiel and Balthazar did too!" Jason shook his head.

"Wait, wait, wait . . . but uncle Cas and Balthazar are _alive_!" Issa nodded.

"Jason, they're Angels! They can't die! The most that happens is that they go to Purgatory, wash away their sins and then come back clean and good to go. That's what happened to Cas and the others, anyway. Balthazar chose to stay Fallen when he got out of Purgatory . . . like me." Jason swallowed heavily.

"So . . . Grandpa Chuck is . . ." Issa nodded slowly.

"Yeah . . . Grandpa Chuck is God."

Jason let out a small noise as he fell to the floor against the far kitchen wall. Issa let out a squeak of alarm and rose to go to him, but Dean's gentle hand on her arm kept her from moving. Jason instead, ran his fingers through his hair. "So, if you're an Angel, and dad is a mortal, then that makes me . . ." He trailed off and thought for a moment before turning his eyes onto Issa again, wide with shock. "Then that makes me a demi-Angel?" Issa nodded slowly.

"Yes. You have some of the powers of an Angel, but not their immortality. Of course, what powers you inherit are basically a roll of the dice, but apparently, from what you and Dean told me, you inherited your Uncle Michael's power of burning things alive when you touch them!"

"Does . . . will that happen all the time?" He asked in terror, but Issa shook her head.

"You'll learn to control it. Michael was hell when he first got the power, but he learned to control it," She hesitated and glanced at Dean. "Michael was the strongest of us . . . the only one that could match him was Lucifer and now, they're both in the Cage."

"Forgive me if this is a little too much to comprehend in one sitting!" Jason spoke, slightly sarcastic, slightly horrified, and Issa and Dena nodded.

"Yeah, it was pretty rough for us too . . ." Dean spoke in agreement and Jason turned his eyes onto her.

"So where's dad?" Issa shrugged weakly.

"I don't know. I wish I did, Jason, but I don't!" Jason nodded and weakly got to his feet.

"Forgive me, but . . . I'm going to go lie down for a while . . ." He spoke numbly as he turned and moved towards the stairs to the second floor. Issa moved to follow him but Dean's hand on her arm again stopped her.

"Issa don't. He needs time to comprehend everything that we just told him. Give him a few hours . . ." He spoke before his hand trailed down and he took her hand in his. Their fingers reflexively entwined and he gazed at her pointedly. "Are you sure you're alright?" Issa glanced at him and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine," She told him. "Like I said, I was brought to the ground by a Hellhound, but other than that, I'm in one piece." She shook her head. "Dean, he made a deal with a Crossroads Demon when he was in Massachusetts ten years ago," She told him and he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"Massachusetts? How do you know it was ten years ago?"

"I know it was ten years ago, because ten years ago, he went to Massachusetts on a business trip. He was gone for a week or two and when he came back, he was nervous. I chalked it up to something having to do with his latest case, but now . . . now I really know why he was so nervous." He shook his head.

"Why would he do it, though? We killed countless Crossroads Demons – he should have known better than to make a deal with them!" Issa shrugged.

"That, I don't know. The Crossroads Demon that apprehended me here, though, said that I was part of it. She said that thought I was not a partner of the contract and thus, could not technically be dragged to Hell because of it; I still am part of it. Knowing that, we can make an accurate assumption that Sam made a contract that also would have a direct impact on me." Dean nodded slowly.

"That would also would also explain why he was so nervous!" Issa nodded and Dean shook his head. "We need to go to Massachusetts!" He spoke and Issa gazed at him in disbelief.

"Dean, we can't! I have the house and Jason has school -"

"Bobby, Cas and Balthazar can look after the house and as for Jason's schooling . . . take him out and say that you are going to home school him from now on out!" He spoke, and when Issa shook her head and opened her mouth to say something, Dean closed his eyes and shushed her.

"Issa, I'm not going to leave to find him clear across the country, and leave you and Jason here alone unprotected!" He shook his head. "You can forget about it!"

Issa gazed at him impassively for a moment and again, she wondered if what the Crossroads Demon said was true. Did she look at her husband's older brother with stars in her eyes and her heart heavy with love? She didn't see stars in his eyes then, when he gazed at her with an emotion that said he would brook no argument. But then, when his eyes softened and he moved to get down on his knees in front of her, she saw them . . . and they shone as brightly as the real thing.

"Issa, please, come with me!" He begged her quietly. "I don't want you and Jason to get hurt and I can protect you guys better if you guys come with me! Hell, Jason's just now coming into his powers and doesn't know how to control them! You can't teach him alone!"

"Dean, I -"

"Issa, I'm begging you! For God's sake, I'm down on my knees in front of you!" He laughed, and Issa smiled and laughed a little back before she nodded.

"Fine . . . I suppose we'll go with you . . ." She told him, and he grinned and thanked her as he pulled her into a tight embrace and scooted backwards so that Issa fell onto her knees as well before him on the kitchen linoleum. "Dean, I can't brea -!"

And all of a sudden, she was interrupted by his hands in her hair and his lips crashing down onto hers. His tongue was in her mouth and her hands were at his neck and her body was responding to his with a deep-seated thrum that for a moment frightened her. She froze momentarily in horror at what they were doing – in _fear_ – but his hands wounding along her sides to cross her back, pulling her deeper into his kiss, made that fear go away. Dean's embrace was protective – it was warm – and God help her for betraying Sam, but she wanted it . . . she wanted _him_.

Getting to his feet, he picked her up in his arms and slowly, careful not to trip on the stairs, ascended them and carried her into the guest bedroom that they had used the previous night. He set her down on her feet once they were inside and the door was closed behind them, where he still held her close. And when they broke apart, she saw the pain that filled his eyes – pain at what they were doing to Sam. She opened her mouth to say something but he shook his head and pulled her closer to him once more. Bending down, he kissed her with a soft, passion filled kiss.

The sounds of clinking metal from Dean's belt and the swishing of clothes as they undressed each other filled the air and then, his lips were attacking her neck, her throat, everywhere he could reach and when he framed her face with his hands and kissed her lips, it was as soft and loving as ever.

"I love you . . . oh God above, do I love you, Issa!" He murmured and she bit down gently on her bottom lip before kissing him again.

"I know you do Dean, so stop talking about it and show me!" She breathed, and he grinned as his arm hooked around her waist and he brought her gently down onto the bed. Grinning, they kissed again, Issa's hands cradling his face as he pulled her underneath him, his hands on her thighs, on her waist and hips – running over the smooth skin his fingers itched to touch every moment of his life.

She gasped out when Dean entered her, every inch of his soul screaming out at the same time. Soft moans and sighs and the other's name that built steadily on their lips until they were forced to run over, filled the air around them as they made love - sweet, beautiful love.

Her hands trailed through his hair, clenching and yanking, causing him to growl slightly against her shoulder, her neck, her cheek. Hands grasped her thighs, her hips, her breasts and in-between them, where their bodies were joined together so intimately; they teased her and made her end come faster . . . it was rushing towards her now – blinding her -

And when his hips suddenly stilled in-between hers, his eyes squeezing shut and his teeth gritting together as his pleasure overtook him in a strained groan, so did hers in a breathless moan. His name left her lips like a foreign word, creating a taste on her tongue that was different but one she did not find wholly unappetizing. The feeling of intensity that ran through both of their bodies caused the world to spin around them - the colors to brighten like an acid trip and the furniture to disappear along with Dean for a moment.

And when she opened her eyes, she saw the stars in his eyes . . . the beautiful stars . . .

And then she realized . . . they were just mere reflections of her own.


	7. Chapter 6

**Sorry I haven't updated in a while - college has recently started on my end and I've been busy settling into classes and getting into the groove of things. I should be updating a little bit more now, though, so stayed tune! :)**

* * *

The room smelled of blood . . . it smelled of blood, sweat and piss. Sam hated to admit it, but he contributed to some of those embarrassing, offending smells, especially the coppery blood and the tang of sweat.

Another crack of the whip split through the air and Sam arched his back in his chains and let out a roar of pain and fury at the same time, his eyes squeezing shut with the agony that arced through his body at the kiss of the leather against his back. It came again and again in a successive four lashes before the door to the chamber opened, allowing a blinding white light to appear. Sam squinted in pain as the light fell onto him and he heard a chuckling.

"Looks like Moose can take a beating after all!" He chuckled in slight amazement, and Sam shook his head. "Damn, you must be kinkier in bed than I heard you were!"

"Let me go, Crowley . . . I've paid my due . . ." Sam murmured weakly as he slumped in his chains and hung his head. He ignored the last statement, and Crowley shook his head and tsked in fake sympathy.

"Oh, Sam, it's much, much bigger than just you right now!" He told him, and Sam turned his eyes up to him. They were bigger than saucers in his shock.

"Crowley, I've paid my dues when it came to my deal! You can't keep me here any longer!"

"I know, dammit, I know!" Crowley spoke in irritation and Sam laughed.

"_Then let me go_!" Sam persisted. "Let me go so that I can return to my family!"

"Oh, your _family_? You want to _actually _return to your _family_?" Crowley repeated with a highly amused look in his eyes and a laugh in his voice. "Oh Jolly Green, sometimes I forget your down here and your not up-to-date on current events up there! Your _family _has abandoned you for dead! Your wife is fucking and sucking the cock of your older brother while your son reveres him as his perfect stepfather! Your life is _over_ – they don't miss you anymore!" He paused and then looked confused for a minute before he closed his eyes and nodded in remembrance. "Oh wait, sorry, she's hasn't actually sucked his cock . . . _yet_!"

Sam shook his head in disbelief. "No . . . no, Issa and Dean would do _anything _to find me!" He spoke and Crowley laughed.

"I'm surprised you can't see how they used your sudden disappearance to their relationship's advantage! 'Oh! My husband and brother are dead – let's fuck each other's brains out against the kitchen wall!'" Crowley chuckled again as he averted his eyes to the floor. He worried at a disconnected eyeball on the slimy floor with the toe of his shoe. "Oh Jesus Christ, I crack myself up sometimes!"

Sam continued to shake his head, not wanting to believe what he was telling him. Issa _loved_ him as her husband, her best friend and her lover; Dean loved him as a brother and best friend! They would _never _stop trying to find him – especially Dean! And he doubted Issa would forsake his bed for Dean's . . . not after she had seemed so tore up the last she had done it.

No . . . no, he wouldn't believe it! He _couldn't _believe it! He wouldn't survive if he started believing it.

"I see you're in a bit of a dilemma here, so let me make it easy for you . . ." Crowley then sauntered down the steps and moved over to him, where he crouched down in front of him. "_Where is the Item _you asshole?! Where have you hidden it?" Sam shook his head.

"I don't know, okay? I used it once and then it disappeared after! It's probably moved on to the next person by now!" Sam spoke weakly and Crowley gritted his teeth as he knotted his fingers in Sam's hair and roughly pulled his head back. Gritting his teeth and grunting in pain, Sam allowed him to. He didn't have much strength to debate him anyway.

"Look, Sam, I respect you, believe it or not. You lived with that little Angel _cunt_ for fifteen years – something I never would have been able to have done, speaking she's as twisted and backstabbing as her brothers are – spitting fuckin' image of Michael, in fact! You married her; you gave her son and a house and riches. But does she stay faithful to you? No, she doesn't! _Believe me_, she is up there right now getting _rammed _by your older brother and _begging _him for it! Now," He held up a finger. "I can release you to return to the big upstairs in order to wreck havoc and spit hellfire and brimstone once you see that what I'm saying is true, but you _have _to tell me where the Goddamn Item is! I'm not doing it otherwise!" Sam shook his head and gritted his teeth in annoyance.

"I don't . . . know . . . where it is; why can't you understand that?!" He snarled and Crowley let out a noise of disgust as he threw Sam away from him, rolling his eyes in the process. Sam let out a wince of pain as he swung back and forth in his chains, although the four chains embedded into the ceiling and floor kept him from swinging too badly.

"You are _such_ a little goody goody! Why Issa fell for you after the Asshole of the Year Michael and the Brooding Bad Boy Lucifer in the first place is _beyond _me!"

"Issa loves me . . . she'd never betray me . . ." Sam murmured the words like a prayer, ignoring Crowley's words and saying it more to assure himself than the demon standing in front of him. Crowley grinned and laughed as he shook his head.

"You keep telling yourself that, Moose, if it'll make you feel better, but it is only gonna get worse from here on out."

"What do you mean?" San asked then, furrowing his eyebrows in slight confusion, and Crowley laughed.

"You don't hear them? You don't hear the screams at night? I'm surprised you don't! Michael screams out for her like a lost child for his mother. Lucifer screams too, but Michael's screams are the loudest. His has always been the loudest and besides . . . Lucifer's been here before, he's used to the way things are," He shook his head then and smirked. "Issa's always had certain . . . _loyalties _towards Michael that has always been very annoying – even when she was with Lucifer and sided with him during the Rebellions, she always jumped at the chance to do _anything _for Michael – tedious, major or sexual, it's always been for Michael!" He shrugged then. "She'll answer him eventually, most likely, take my word for it. She'd never been able to let that asshole scream for her for long . . ."

* * *

It was cold, that night, when Issa finally awoke. It was cold and dark and frost gathered on the panes of the windows.

Issa shivered as she sat up in the bed, the covers moving to pool around her waist. She looked to her left and saw Dean sleeping silently beside her on his back, his chest moving gracefully up and down and his arm lying across her pillow. She had slept partially on him during the night after they were done and now she realized why. He was warm . . . warm and protective.

Shivering again, more violently now that she was even more awake, her eyes were once again drawn to the windows. Frost was indeed gathering at the corners of the panes and the outside showed darkness . . . complete, unfathomable darkness.

Wait . . . it was Fall . . . there shouldn't be frost on the windows . . .

Issa gasped and turned towards Dean, where she shook him violently, trying desperately to get him to awake. He didn't awake, just lay there sleeping. Issa breath came faster and her eyes widened with horror and fear. Why wasn't he waking up?

"Dean . . . Dean get the fuck up!" She begged him as she shook him harder, but still, he did not answer her. Eventually, a voice coming from across the room caused her to divert her attention away from the supine form of her lover beside her.

"Is she awake this time . . .?"

The voice was hopeful . . . weak almost, as well.

"Yes . . . finally, she is awake . . ."

The voice that replied to him came from the window, and Issa's eyes shot over to the window, only to reveal a man that she had not seen in a very long time.

"L-Lucifer . . .?" She asked in confusion and he nodded weakly as she threw aside the covers and stepped out of the bed. Immediately, she regretted it, for she let out a cry of pain at her feet hitting the freezing cold floor of wherever they were, and she crumpled to the floor, the rest of her body screaming out at the same pain when the rest of her semi-warm flesh hit the same cold floor. She was wearing her white tank top and black panties that she had slipped on when her and Dean had finished making love and it was _not _suitable for wherever the fuck they were.

"Issa, be careful!"

She felt gentle hands grasp her underneath her arms and haul her to her feet, an arm moving underneath her legs to better lift her up and then gently deposited her back onto the relative safety of the bed. When her eyes stopped leaking tears of pain, she looked up into the face of her rescuer and saw none other than Michael gazing back at her.

"Michael . . . Michael, your alive . . .!" She breathed as she got to her knees before him on the bed and ran her fingers down and over his cheek. He was still in the possession of the body of the handsome Adam Milligan and Lucifer had the body he always had – Nick's body. Issa swallowed heavily as tears brimmed in her eyes. "I . . . I thought you were dead!" She murmured, and Michael nodded.

"I am, Issa . . ." He cupped her face with his hand and she immediately shied away as soon as the icy flesh met the skin of her cheek. "I am as damned as Lucifer now. Many think he burns hot, but it's quite the opposite. We're colder than any Fallen – colder than you without Dean or Sam to give you warmth," He told her, and she swallowed heavily as he averted his eyes to the floor. "Look, I know that I should apologize for everything, but -"

Issa shook her head and leaned forward, her hands moving to his neck as her lips met his in a kiss, causing her to successfully interrupt him. It was a sweet, chaste kiss. There was no tongue or passions involved, although he did open his mouth to her and return the kiss. She closed her eyes and they broke apart slowly, where she sighed in irritation when Michael inhaled sharply, his eyes closing as he bit down on his bottom lip and savored the warmth that tingled along his lips. She sighed in slight irritation and impatience. There would have been a time, a long, long time ago, that the sight of Michael biting down on his bottom lip while standing in front of her, would have been _more _than enough to make her rip his clothes off in a frenzied haste while she shoved him against the nearby flat surface or a wall. Now . . . now it did absolutely nothing for her.

That realization alone made her feel better. She didn't need another sudden affair with a guy to fuck up her life more than it already was.

"_God_, now I know why you Fallen make _such _a big deal out of being warm!" He murmured, his eyes opening, only to regard her lazily as he gently entwined a lock of her ebony hair around one of his fingers, and she rolled her eyes as pushed him away slightly.

"Yeah, yeah, don't get used to it! I'm not _ever _going to do it again!" She hissed, slightly angrily, and Michael grinned and laughed as he hugged her tightly. "And besides, you were much better looking when you appeared as a younger John!" Michael laughed a little.

"Sorry, I didn't know you had a fetish for a much younger John Winchester! It's the James Dean look, ain't it?" He murmured back teasingly, and it was her time to laugh as they broke apart and she allowed her eyes to fall onto Lucifer, who was gazing at her warily.

"I don't know what I would have done if you had the appearance of Sam . . ." She told him quietly, honestly, and Lucifer chuckled a little as he pushed himself away from the frozen windowsill and moved over to her.

"You would probably have ravished me on sight, wouldn't you? Probably faster than if he had appeared as a much younger John . . ." He asked, nodding towards Michael and a smile quirked the sides of his lips before he finally just grinned and hugged her to him tightly. Issa returned the embrace equally as tightly. "Oh God, it is so good to see you again, Minx . . ." He breathed in her ear and she nodded against his shoulder.

"Yes, you too, Luc' . . ." She murmured before she broke apart and looked at Michael. He looked down at the floor.

"He's a lucky man . . . Dean . . ." Michael spoke quietly, and Issa glanced over her shoulder at Dean still sleeping soundly in the bed. Issa swallowed heavily.

"Is he . . .?"

"No, he's still very much alive; you don't have to worry about that!" Michael spoke quietly. "The both of you are alive and sleeping peacefully, actually. You're just . . ."

"Dreaming." Lucifer finished quietly, and Issa laughed.

"Well, this is a pretty lucid dream then!" She spoke sarcastically as she sat down on her rump on the bed and massaged the soles of her feet. They were still icy and hurting from touching the cold floor, and both of the former Archangels standing in front of her smile weak, apologetic smiles.

"Yeah, sorry about that . . ." Michael apologized quietly. "But I had screamed for you for so long! I didn't think you would ever answer me!" Lucifer rolled his eyes.

"Good thing you did too! I was about to snap his neck if he screamed for you one last time!"

"Oh come on, I wish you would _try _Luci! I would rip you apart -!"

"That is enough, the both of you!" Issa snapped irritably and as if they were two children being reprimanded, Michael and Lucifer sputtered to a stop, the both of them looking a tad guilty. Issa shook her head. "Why I am here?"

"You mean other than breaking the seals?" Lucifer grinned and Issa shook her head.

"You know I can't do that, Luc'. I love the both of you – like _brothers -_!" She immediately corrected herself upon seeing the hopeful look on Michael's face and continued when he averted his eyes to the floor again in irritation. She shook her head. "But I can't break the seals again. The human race not ready for the apocalypse and besides! My family's too old to take it head on again!" Lucifer shrugged.

"Oh well . . . it was worth a try."

"But you _can't _be giving up that easily!" Michael snapped at him, his eyes crackling with the electricity that Issa had grown up with and fell in love with. She had loved Michael for his stubbornness, his passion and most of all – his spontaneity. He seemed to have lost that spark when he was forced to shove Lucifer over the edge of Heaven into the dark abyss of Hell and she suspected that, that had harmed him mentally more than he cared to admit. Lucifer shrugged as he turned around and returned to his windowsill.

"We can't do anything if someone doesn't break the seals and I still love Issa too much to make her do that! I refuse to fuck with her mind like how I fucked with Azazel's!" He replied, a tad coldly, and Issa smiled a small, thankful smile, one that Lucifer acknowledged with a small nod of his head. Michael groaned and rolled his eyes. Issa and Lucifer both recoiled slightly. He was certainly acting differently than his brooding, depression filled self that she had saw when she first arrived. It must have been the warmth he felt upon kissing her that changed it, she suspected. The warmth had given him hope.

"Well then let's get someone else to do it!" Michael snapped and Lucifer shook his head.

"It has to be initiated by a demon or an Angel, or it won't work!" He told him in a voice that suggested he had told him the same thing _many _times before that, and Michael groaned and rolled his eyes again. He glanced at Issa coldly.

"And please Issa, won't you cover up? Seeing you in just a tank top and panties after being alone for so long makes me want to -"

"_Michael_!" Lucifer snapped at him angrily, interrupting him mid-sentence before he could complete the surely lewd description that was on the tip of his tongue. He pushed away slightly – threateningly – from the windowsill and even though Michael shut his mouth and glared at his younger brother, Issa still grabbed a sheet and pulled it over her waist. She knew nothing would happen with Lucifer there, but still . . . she didn't want to take any chances. And evidently, Lucifer thought the same. Michael glared at him for a moment before turning away and walking off a few meters, muttering something bitterly under his breath having to do with a much young John Winchester, Issa, and clothes being promptly thrown around the room. Lucifer smiled a small, apologetic smile.

"Sorry about that. Celibacy gets to the worst of us, I think . . ." He spoke, shooting a glance at Michael as he crossed the distance between them. Issa grinned at him.

"It's nothing . . . I've always loved the Winchester men, what can I say? Its common knowledge among Angels, you know that. And are you sure, Luc'? You seem pretty level headed enough . . ." She remarked, and he grinned and shrugged as he laughed a little.

"Yeah, well, you'd be surprised what you could accomplish with a good hand and some pretty damn good memories of you," He spoke, and Issa grinned and laughed as she leaned forward and took his hands in hers. Their fingers entwined and he squeezed them gently, almost lovingly. His eyes when they gazed at each other were soft and she could tell he wanted nothing more but to lean forward and kiss her, but knew he shouldn't. There were only three men in her life at that moment, and unfortunately, neither Lucifer nor Michael occupied any of those spaces.

"Luc', I'm sorry about the seals. You know I can't -"

"Do anything - yeah I know," He interrupted her gently as he nodded. "I knew from the beginning that you wouldn't do it. I told Michael the same too, but he wouldn't listen. He just kept _screaming_ for you!" He told her while rolling his eyes and she nodded slowly.

"I . . . never heard him . . ." She spoke slowly, a tad confused, and he shrugged.

"You heard him in your sleep, most likely, which explains how you got here. Your subconscious put you here because your subconscious heard him scream for you. It's a whole Archangel thing, I'm afraid. We're in-tuned to each other, especially ones we've have sexual relationships with, and you'll always be in-tuned to me and Michael, unfortunately." Issa gazed at him warily.

"That sounds lovely. Does that . . . does that mean you can hear shit when I and Dean or I and Sam are . . .?" She trailed off before glancing at Dean, and he shrugged.

"Yeah, hearing you moan certainly helps too!" He grinned and the both of them laughed as she closed her eyes and punched him on the arm, blush tingeing her cheeks.

"Goddammit Luc', you better be kidding! You can't really hear us, can you?" She laughed and he shook his head.

"No, I'm not kidding, Issa! You make the loveliest sounds, too, I swear to God! I don't remember you _ever _making some of those sounds with me, too! Must just be a Dean thing -!" He remarked and eventually relented, laughing, as she pummeled his arm repeatedly with her fists.

"That's not funny, Luc'!" She snapped, although her eyes were alight with mirth, and he chuckled a little.

". . . I know where Sam is, Issa . . ." He spoke quietly and her eyes widened in shock.

"You do? Oh my God Luc', that's wonderful! Where is he?" She asked, and Lucifer pursed his lips as he glanced at Dean.

"Are you sure you want to know?" He asked her, still quietly, and her eyebrows furrowed in slight confusion.

"What do you mean do I wanna to know? Of course I wanna . . . oh . . ." She trailed off when she realized what he meant. She glanced at Dean before looking down at her hands wringing in her lap. Lucifer smiled a small smile.

"You're happy with him, Issa . . ." He gazed at her pointedly. "You're happier with him than I have ever seen you with Sam." Issa shook her head.

"Don't say that, Lucifer. I love Sam – I want him back!"

"I didn't say that you didn't love him. But love and happiness are two totally different things, Issa, believe it or not. You could be in love with someone, but not happy with them. You love Sam – you're happy with Dean."

"Just tell me where he is, Lucifer."

"Issa, don't -!"

"_Where is he_, Lucifer?" She asked angrily, her eyes moving up to pin his. Lucifer held her gaze for a moment before sighing. He looked down again.

"I can't tell you _where _he is – for I don't know, really. I can sense him – he's alive – but I don't know _where _he's being kept. I do know, though, that you have to go to Winchester, Massachusetts to figure it out, though. Ironic name, I know, but still, it's your next step. Oh, that and Crowley has him, but that's about as much as I can give you." Issa recoiled in shock.

"_Crowley_? What does Crowley want with him? And besides, why do we have to go to Massachusetts, of all places? What is there to tie Sam there?"

"He made a deal there with a Crossroads Demon ten years ago, as you already know. Find that crossroads, find that Demon and you'll find Sam _with _Crowley, speaking he leads them now ever since Lilith bit the dust. You'll also find a little something else too if you look close enough." Issa nodded and muttered a teary thank-you as she moved to gaze down at her hands in her lap again. She felt relief flood into her heart. Finally, she knew where Sam was! She could get him back – he could be back in her arms again!

Lucifer gazed at her for a little, watching the warring of the emotions in her eyes and across her face for a while longer before sighing. "You know, Issa, as long as I've known you – as long as I've loved you and protected you, I would _never_ have ever called you a fool. You were . . . you were too logical, too cautious in everything you done. But, if the only reason you are staying with Sam is for, what you think, the sake of your son . . . then I will _have _to call you a fool." Issa gazed at him, her eyes hard.

"I would like to wake up now, if you do not mind, Luc'." She told him politely, and he pursed his lips. He gazed at her for a few moments longer before finally speaking.

"Just . . . promise me that you won't be stupid, Issa, when you guys finally get to Massachusetts." He told her and she nodded, furrowing her eyebrows slightly in confusion again.

"Yeah . . . yeah, I promise," She spoke, and Lucifer smiled a small smile before he leaned forward and pressed a gentle, loving kiss to her forehead.

"Then please, do me a favor . . . wake up . . ."

That was the last thing Lucifer told her before she slumped backwards on the bed, her world going black.


	8. Chapter 7

**Okay, I wanted to do three things with this chapter (aside from putting them on the road to ACTUALLY finding Sam!). #1, I wanted to show that Jason and Issa's relationship has been kinda (ironically) like Sam and John's relationship was. Its strained and they often fight, but quite obviously, they love each other. #2 I wanted to give a shout-out to all my SamxIssa fans out there with the second part, who aren't exactly feeling as much love in this story. Hope you like it! and #3 I wanted to show how conflicted Issa is with both her feelings for Sam and Dean, which is kinda conflicting with my thoughts on how the Hell this story is going to end! **

**There is a pretty explicit lemon in here between Sam and Issa. So, if you don't like explicit sex on a granite kitchen countertop, then feel free to skip over the second part of this chapter :)**

**Hope you enjoy and please review! :)**

**- Nagiana**

* * *

"What exactly are you doing, young man?"

Jason jumped and twirled around, where he saw his mom making her way to him, a small smile on her face. He blushed as the fire engulfing his hand immediately disappeared. "Um, nothing, I just . . . I was . . ." He trailed off when he saw his mother's amused but skeptical face. He sighed then and rolled his eyes. "I guess I was . . . trying _it _out."

"Trying what out?"

"You know . . ." He shrugged and leaned in slightly. "My power . . ." Issa grinned and laughed.

"And how's that coming along?" She asked, and he shrugged. He brought his hand back into view and fire immediately engulfed it, however, it sputtered out moments later. He gazed at her in disappointment.

"Not that good, I'm afraid . . . it's hard to control." Issa nodded.

"Fire often is. Michael had a very hard time controlling his when he first got it. However, he kept on practicing and eventually, he became quite the master." Jason gazed at her in interest.

"What was you power?" She smiled a small smile.

"I was like my other brother Gabriel. I had the power of electricity. I didn't use it often, but it did get us out of a couple of tight spots here and there." He nodded again as he gazed down at his hand again.

"Are you sure you want to do this, mom? Are you sure you want to go to Massachusetts and find dad?" He asked and resolutely, Issa placed a gentle hand firmly on his shoulder, where she squeezed it.

"I will do anything to find your father, Jason! And if going to Massachusetts will get us closer to finding him, then so be it!" He turned his gaze up to her.

"But why would you want to, when you're perfectly happy with uncle Dean now?" He asked her, and she swallowed heavily.

"Jason, I -"

"You love him mom, and God . . . _dang it_, he loves you too! I just wish you could see that!" He shook his head then. "And I'm not stupid mom – no matter what you want to think of me, don't think that! You don't think I haven't noticed that not once since uncle Dean has come back to help us out, that you have yet to sleep in the bed that you slept in with dad! You've been sleeping in the guest bedroom every night . . . with uncle Dean."

"Jason, I love your father . . . _too_," She spoke, her words slightly angry and her face growing hot with blush at having to admit that she loved both Sam _and _Dean. But she did – she had to admit that. She had loved the both of them a long, long time ago, when she got back from being in Heaven with Gabriel. Why could she not admit it now – as freely as she had back then? What was keeping her from doing so?

"I love your father and I _have _to find him, Jason!" She told him, her voice hinting to him that she would brook no further argument, and Jason swallowed heavily and turned his eyes down to the ground.

"You call that love, mom? You can honestly stand there before me and claim that you love dad, when you _fuck_ my uncle stupid every night?"

A sharp 'crack' split the air and Jason's head was hurled to the side when his mother's palm kissed the side of his face, with more force than he had anticipated and than she had originally wanted. Her face was burning with embarrassment. "I have never hit you, Jason – not once; not even when you were a child and misbehaved!" She told him, her voice hard and tear-filled. "I love you as only a mother can love her child and all I ask in return is that you support me, in everything that I do!" Tears filled her eyes then. "And if _fucking _your uncle is what I choose to do, then by all means, please support me! And likewise, if finding your father is what I choose to do, then _support _me in that too! I'll figure out the red tape myself!"

Jason swallowed heavily as he gazed at his mother. His face held a look of slight bitterness. It was true. His mother _had _never hit him – even when he was a child but just the fact that she would slap him then, put a bad taste in his mouth . . . even if he deserved it, he would admit. That sentence was _completely _out of line.

"But are you really sure I should come with you?" He asked her quietly, and she turned a disparaging gaze onto him as her tears dried up slightly.

"And why should you not?" Jason shrugged.

"It's just that . . . me and dad never really got along and with these new powers, I don't . . . I don't want to hinder you!" Issa sighed and shook her head as she took him in her arms in a tight hug. She sniffed again, her tears coming back.

"Jason, your father loves you! He loves you more than you could possibly imagine! Hell, when you were younger and before he became such a huge member of the community and the law firm, he would _constantly _be in your nursery! I couldn't drag him out of there!" She laughed a little as they broke apart, and although she knew Sam's paranoia stemmed from Azazel and his 'Children', it was still endearing as a mother to see that. "And besides, Dean is coming with me and the both of us refuse to leave you by yourself! Bobby is going to look after the house and your new powers are also a perfect reason to not leave you alone! If there is anyone that can help you deal, it is me. I had to deal with the exact same thing, with both me and Michael," She grasped his shoulders and gazed at him pointedly. "You are _not alone_, Jason!" Jason sighed and looked away.

"Then why do I feel like it?" He muttered as he pushed past his mother and moved around the side of the house, to the front. Issa was hot on his heels, knowing she should say something (especially after that slap) but not knowing _what_.

Dean was in the front driveway, loading their bags into the trunk of the infamous black Impala. He shut the lid of the trunk when they neared him, his eyes lighting up when he saw them. "Hey, you guys ready to go?" He asked, and Jason nodded as he headed for the front door of the house.

"Yeah, just let me grab a few more things, okay?" He asked him bitterly, and Dean nodded, bewildered, as he watched him go. Issa sighed and rubbed her face with her hands as Dean made his way over to her.

"Hey, what was that all about?" He asked her, and when she finally brought her face out of her hands, he saw she was crying. She shook her head.

"I slapped him, Dean!"

"Wait – what? You-You slapped him? Why?" He asked in disbelief, and Issa shrugged.

"He was questioning why we were doing this – questioning my love for Sam – my love for you! He was questioning so much and _dammit, _I am tired of being questioned!" She shook her head. "He mentioned how I had not slept in me and Sam's bed since you came back and he kept going on and on and on, and - I didn't mean to slap him, Dean! I really didn't! I don't know what came over me!" Dean sighed as he took her in his arms and hugged her close.

"Issa, it'll be fine! We'll find Sam and everything will go back to normal, I promise!" He spoke, even his words laced with a little bitterness and disappointment and Issa pushed him away gently.

"Do you . . . do you want that, Dean?" She asked him quietly, and he gazed at her in confusion for a moment.

"What do you mean? Of course I want Sam back! He's my brother – we've been through too much already -!" Issa shook her head, successfully interrupting him.

"I mean . . . do you honestly want things to go back to being the way they were?" She asked him, and immediately, his expression softened.

"Of course I don't want that, Issa – don't be stupid!" He assured her as he took her hand and pulled her closer to him. "I'm the happiest I've ever been when I wake up in the morning and see you in my arms – when I go to sleep every night with my scent on your skin!" He shook his head. "But your Sam's wife and when he comes back, I am well aware that I will have to . . . _step aside_."

Issa blinked at him for a moment. She blinked at him in disbelief. He had said that so easy! "You will have to . . . _step aside_?" She asked him in disbelief, and he nodded.

"Well, yeah! It's not like your going to divorce Sam for me! Issa, I dealt with that a long time ago! I can deal with it again!" Issa shook her head. "Honestly, what did you expect to happen?"

Issa shook her head. What _had_ she expected to happen? If they did find Sam and bring him back, then chances were he would take back up his job at the law firm. It wasn't like she could have both of them again! They were too old for that . . . they were no longer the young, hot-blooded Demon Hunters that they once were. Sam had a career that very much relied on his public image – they had a son who would suffer greatly if it got out that his mother was having an affair, much less if that man was living in the house with them! When they found Sam . . . their affair would have to stop.

"I'm uh . . . I'm going to go help Jason with his stuff . . ." She spoke quietly as she turned and headed towards the house. Dean gently grabbed her hand and held her back.

"Issa . . . Issa, talk to me! I didn't mean it like that!" He begged her and she shook her head.

"We'll be out in a minute Dean . . . I promise."

* * *

_Twelve Years Ago . . ._

_ Sam Winchester opened the door to the gorgeous lake house he shared with his wife and son, his ears immediately caressed by the smooth, sensual voice of the Angelic Corrine Bailey Rae and the wonderful smells of Issa's cooking filling his nose. He grinned as he moved down the painting lined hallway to the kitchen, sliding off his leather jacket as he moved, where then proceeded to throw it on a nearby chair when he passed it. _

_ "Sam, baby, is that you?" Issa shouted from the kitchen in order to be heard over the music that was coming in from the loudspeakers in the living room. _

I'd Like To_, by Corinne was playing on the loudspeakers. _"I'd, I'd like to put my fingers on you . . ."

_ Sam couldn't help but grin._

_ "Yeah, I'm home – what's for dinner?" He shouted back as he closed the hall closet, and Issa moved to greet him when he moved into the kitchen, her hands sliding behind his neck as they kissed, long and deep and wonderfully passionate. They broke apart and a grin spread across his face to match his as her hands moved to settle on his broad, muscular chest through the thin fabric of the dress shirt he was wearing._

_ "Well, you could eat me if you were hungry enough . . ." She murmured with a playful grin, and he grinned as he bent down and ravished her neck with kisses and tiny nibbles. She grinned and let out a low moan as his hands looped around her waist, bringing her closer to him, against the growing hardness pressing into her stomach – the marble hardness of his body pressing against the rest._

_ "I've never been so tempted to do just that in my life . . .!" He murmured into her ear, grinning, as he slowly undid the button and fly of her jeans. She grinned and swatted him away as she stepped back._

_ "And you have no idea how much I want you to, but unfortunately, I have dinner in the oven!" She teased him as she turned around and headed back into the kitchen. He grinned and shook his head as he followed her, her hips sashaying arrogantly all the while._

_ "Where's Jason at?" He asked her, his eyebrows furrowing in slight confusion as he set his leather bag down on the kitchen's island counter. Normally, he would walk into the house and hear Jason's three-year-old giggles as he played with his toys or watched the Baby Channel in the living room. But tonight was different . . . tonight it was silent except for the music floating all throughout the first story of the house, and Issa working in the kitchen. _

_ She glanced back at him as she chopped up the vegetable set before her and as he moved to lean on the island's countertop. "He's at Cas and Julie's. I uh . . . I told him that we planned on having a date night tonight and he offered to watch him for the night. Julie immediately jumped on board as well. We've been meaning to set up a play-date between Jason and Ryder anyway." She told him, and he nodded. _

_ "That was kind of them . . ." He spoke, his eyes pinned on her hips that gently swayed in time with the music. She felt his eyes on her and her grin grew slightly larger. _

_ "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you wanted to skip dinner, Sammy!" He shrugged._

_ "Truthfully, I kind of do want to skip dinner, Issa . . ." He agreed with her quietly as she turned away from the vegetables and moved over to him, where she wrapped her arms around his neck. She readily complied when he brought her closer to him. _

_ "Well you do know what they say, Sam! You don't get dessert unless you eat your vegetables first!" She told him and he grinned licentiously as he stood from his barstool. _

_ "I can think of something right now that I would much more rather eat!" He murmured in her ear as he grabbed her by the waist and in one swift motion reminiscent of their hunting days, twirled them around so that she was occupying the same spot he had been leaning on, on the countertop. He moved to stand before her. She bit down on her bottom lip as she tugged him closer to her, their lips connecting in a steamy kiss and their tongues entwining as his hands worked finishing undoing her jeans. Soon, they were sliding down her legs and off of her – his hands skimming along the outside of her thighs. His lips trailed down to her throat, and she let out a whine._

_ "Sam, baby – we have the food!"_

_ "Forget the damn food for a moment, Issa; I never get to see you anymore since I started at the firm!" He told her, chuckling, and she had to admit, he told the truth. He always got home later than was expected, and by the time he got home, Issa was too exhausted from Jason to be in the mood to make any shape, form or fashion of love. Now, they were completely toddler-free for a night and she was wide-awake. He wasn't about to pass this rare chance up! _

_She felt his lips against her ear and swallowed hard at the feel of his fingers toying with the elastic banding of her black lacy panties. "I never get to taste you anymore . . ." He murmured before he pressed a kiss to her lips and fell down to kneel down in front of her. Her breath caught in her throat as he slid her panties off her and grasped her legs in his firm, but gentle hands. He spread them and promptly buried his face in-between her legs, her feet moving to settle on his broad, muscular shoulders. She let out a gasp as her hand sunk down into his dark hair, gripping the locks by the roots as she arched her back in pleasure, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip. His tongue gently licked her small bundle of nerves, tasting her juices and causing a white-hot, pulsing fire to spread up her back and throughout her body._

_ "S-Sam . . .!" She moaned out, her eyes darkening in pleasure as she balled one of hands into a fist against the hard granite surface of the countertop while the other moved to run through his chin-length dark hair to clench at the back of his neck. He eagerly lapped up her juices while she squirmed underneath him in pleasure, his hands pinning her hips down onto the countertop so that he could tease her more expertly. _

_He gave up for a moment and ran his index finger across her opening, causing her hips to jump at the touch before he gently allowed it to sink into her. She gasped again when his finger moved slowly in and out of her and his tongue began working on her nub again. He slid a second finger into her, feeling her wetness and heat automatically clench around the callused digits, making him pump his fingers faster._

_He could hear her wanton moans as he sunk a third finger deep into her, keeping his pace teasingly fast as she pumped herself as much as she could on his fingers, despite his free arm pinning her hips to the smooth table. He felt her tighten around his fingers and she arched her back, her eyes squeezing closed as she all but screamed out her pleasure and released her juices all over his fingers, Sam chuckling as he pressed an affectionate kiss to her inner thigh._

_Issa's breathing quickened as she half-sat, half-lay there on the countertop catching her breath, and she felt new waves of warmth spread through her lower stomach, ending in a puddle between her legs again as she watched Sam sensually lick his fingers clean of her juices, letting out an 'mmm' of contentment as he savored her . . . the taste and smell he almost couldn't bare to live without whenever he was away from her. _

_His eyes fell on her, brimming with lust, as her legs fell away from his shoulders. He crawled up her body until he was standing before her again, his clothed hips between her bare legs, the rough clothe running along her over-sensitive flesh. She gave him a mean look that he couldn't help but grin at. _

_"You're a fucking _bastard_, Sam Winchester! I swear to God that if _any_ part of that roast is burned -!" She started, and Sam grinned and interrupted her as he leaned in and kissed her passionately, his hands busy undoing his trousers all the while. _

_"You'll do what, exactly?" He breathed around the kiss as he yanked her closer to him, hooked his arms underneath her knees and then braced himself on the countertop. Her heart fell into the pit of her stomach and she swallowed heavily as she braced herself as well. They hadn't made love that much in the past few weeks, and she immediately knew that this was definitely going to be rough . . . rough and passionate. "Because I don't really think you're in the position to be threatening much of anything right now, baby!" He whispered as he plunged his throbbing cock deep inside her, feeling her adjust around his every inch. _

_"Oh God – _fuck _me, Sam!" She hissed out before she let out a keening moan of pleasure and tightened her hands on his shoulders._

_He quickly set the pace at her request, keenly feeling her tightness around his cock while she moved along with his thrusts perfectly, her nails digging into his clothed shoulders and back the faster his pace got. She sucked and kissed along his neck, moaning against the prickly flesh from where he had shaved earlier that morning - everything about her bringing him closer to reaching his peak._

_ "Fuck - _Issa_ . . .!" He groaned out, giving her long, hard strokes and watching her breasts bounce with their movement underneath her low scooping peasant top. She bit down on her bottom lip as her hands trailed down to skim along his biceps as she grinded her body against his thrusts, feeling her nub being stimulated against his pelvic bone the entire time. She pulled him closer to her while moaning into his ear and nibbling on the lobe gently. He felt the muscles of her sleek thighs tense and strain against his forearms and knew she was close, so he quickened his speed, his long thrusts turning into a rough and relentless yet still rhythmic pounding. She moaned out again, his name a wordless prayer on her lips as she clenched onto him tightly, her nails digging into his sides as she came for the second time that night._

_She pulled him closer to her, kissing him passionately while he continued to thrust into her, her mind dazed with the force of her orgasm until he gave one last long, hard thrust deep into her before releasing his seed that they both prayed would take a hold that night. He groaned out her name before he bowed his head, his breathing heavy and laborious. Slowly, he moved his arms out from underneath her legs, where he supported himself on the countertop again as Issa's legs moved to hang limp off the edges of the counter. _

_Although being trained to be a Demon Hunter for most of his life that demanded he stay both physically and mentally fit, it was still a work out making love to anyone – including Issa . . . _especially_ his Issa . . ._

_His wife smiled and turned her head to look at him, her breathing as heavy as his, her face and skin flushed a delightful pink with pleasure. "You're amazing in the sack Sam . . . but of course, you already knew that, didn't you?" She asked him teasingly, and he let out a laugh and a grin as he nodded and tried desperately to get his breathing back to a regular pace again. She grinned, where she placed her hand on his chest, her pointer finger drawing circles around one of his hardened nipples through the cloth of his shirt. "But I'm not done with you just yet, old man . . ."_

_She kept back a laugh at the excited grin that spread across his face at her words._

_ Thank God Castiel and his wife had Jason that night!_

* * *

_Present Day . . ._

Issa awoke from her dream with a start. She blinked tiredly for a moment as she gazed around at her surroundings and for a moment, she had no idea where she was. But then, her mind acknowledged the moving scenery of the night outside the window, the deep thrum of the Impala's engine around her and the low sounds of _Credence Clearwater Revival_ playing over the radio and immediately remembered where she was. She was with Dean and Sam in the Impala and they were currently on their way to Massachusetts to find Sam.

_Sam . . ._

Her mind immediately brought her back to her dream and she sighed. She didn't even remember when that had taken place but yet, she _remembered _it all the same! As well as for being some of the best sex of her and Sam's entire relationship, it had been the night they had conceived their second child, a child that would have been a girl if Issa had not miscarried. It would have been a child they would have named Lily . . . Lily Rose Winchester.

"You okay?"

Issa glanced at Dean behind the wheel next to her, a look of concern on his face. Issa smiled a small smile and nodded. "Yeah, I just . . . I had a dream," She spoke and he nodded.

"Was it a nightmare?"

"Not . . . entirely." She replied, and he nodded and went back to devoting his attention onto the road before them.

"How long are we going to go until we stop for the night?" Jason asked from the backseat and Dean grinned and laughed.

"Most of the time, we drive until I get tired. _Then_ I start scoping for hotel signs!" He spoke, and Jason groaned and rolled his eyes.

"Well wake me up if you get tired. _I'm _gonna try and get some sleep back here!" He spoke and Issa smiled a small smile as Jason moved to lie back along the backseat of the Impala. His eyes grew heavy with the deep-seated thrum of the engine and the music wafting around him and he shuffled a yawn as he started to close his eyes.

Issa and Dean's low voices met his ears muffled and distorted and he didn't hear anything. However, when Dean smiled a small, loving smile and opened his hand to her, palm upward, Jason watched impassively as Issa returned the smile and took it, their fingers entwining. He watched as Dean brought their clasped hands to his lips, where he pressed a lingering kiss to her hand.

Dean loved her . . . why couldn't his mother see that?


	9. Chapter 8

**Damn, sorry guys for the longer update. I've been a bit busy with school and I didn't really know what to write until I actually sat down and watched Season 3 all the way through and got a few ideas for the next upcoming chapters, including this one. Kinda long, I know, but hopefully you'll enjoy it.**

**Another Sam/Issa moment, although it has no lemon to speak of. It alludes to a lemon but its not really there, sorry :).**

**I wrote this part kinda as a look into the life of Sam and Issa and everyone else AFTER they stopped Hunting and before Sam disappeared. Of course, I had to put Castiel and smart-mouthing Balthazar in there too (seriously, who DOESN'T love Balthazar? :)). Also, sorry if I did write Castiel and Bal a little OOC. Tried not to, but you know how it is :)**

**PS. I orginally wanted to put in a little fight scene between Sam and Issa based on the baby that Issa had lost, but I scratched it at the last minute because I didn't know how to reconnect it to a happy ending. Might put it in, in later chapters, don't know. If I do though, it'll probably be when they are finally reunited.**

* * *

_Eleven-Years-Ago . . ._

_ "Quite a party you have here, Minx . . ." _

_ Issa grinned and glanced up at Balthazar as she opened the fridge and took out a tray of assorted fruits. "Yeah, I'll take that as a compliment coming from you, Hedonist!" She teased and he laughed as he took a sip of his wine, furrowing his eyebrows as he did so._

_ "See, that's the thing though! I never would have pegged you as the housewife! Eternal Hunter, yes, part-time Angel, maybe, full time mother . . . definitely. But I _definitely_ could never see you being a housewife." Issa shrugged, glancing at him slyly._

_ "I still help Dean occasionally -"_

_ "Oh I bet you do," He grinned and she shot him a look. _

_ "I help Dean with his cases occasionally, when Bobby can't," She rephrased and he laughed lightly as she continued. "And I know I've said this before, but never again, Bal. Me and Sam, we're married – we have Jason! Dean's married to Cassie – they're expecting a baby. My wild-child Hunting days are over with – especially with Dean!" _

_ Balthazar grinned as he followed her into the dining room, where she placed the tray on the table. "Yeah, but . . . _Christmas_ parties, Issa; birthdays – play dates between Jason and Ryder – _more _parties like the 4th of July and Halloween and New Year's?" He shook his head in mock disbelief. "Where is the Issa I know and love? More importantly, where do you and Sam find the time to _throw _these insane parties?" Issa grinned._

_ "Sam makes good money, Balthazar. Don't worry, we can plenty afford it. As for the old Issa, she's still there, hun. She's just . . . hiding underneath all the diapers and expensive clothes and the piles upon piles of designer shoes instead of the stakes and bottles of holy water that she used to be under!" She told him and he laughed a little and smiled._

_ "Where is Dean and the lovely Cassie, anyway?" He asked, and Issa shrugged._

_ "When she called, she said that he was still on a job with Bobby in Texas. It was something about a really bad haunting in an age-old hotel. She would have made it but she had a doctor's appointment bright and early in the morning and didn't want to stay out late," She spoke and Balthazar nodded in understanding before his smile grew just a little bit bigger._

_ "Speaking of Jason . . ." His gaze softened and he smiled a small smile. "He's beautiful, Issa . . ." He spoke quietly and they both turned to gaze at Sam, who was sitting on the expensive leather sofa in the equally expensively decorated living room talking with one of his colleagues at the law firm and his wife. The four-year-old Jason was standing in-between Sam's parted knees, quietly babbling about a small stuffed giraffe he currently held in his hands, paying no attention to the man sitting before him that had sired him, much less the people sitting across from them. Issa smiled a small smile._

_ "Thanks, Bal. Sam's a good dad. He adores his son – he would do anything for him," Balthazar gazed at her impassively. _

_ "Happy you chose him now?" He asked her quietly, and she gazed at the ground for a moment before he glanced at him. _

_ "I chose him all along, Bal, you know that," She returned quietly, and he sighed._

_ "Issa, you almost lost him when he fell in the pit with Luc' and Michael," He spoke. "I almost expected you to give up on him and go to Dean . . . it probably would have hurt less, anyway." Issa swallowed heavily._

_ "Like it didn't hurt a year ago?" She asked him tersely, bitterly, and Balthazar sighed and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder._

_ "I'm not saying it didn't hurt, Issa, when you lost the baby! But taking even _that_ into consideration, I think you did good with what you had!" _

_ Issa shook her head in disbelief. "Why are you telling me this, anyway, Bal -?" _

_ "Because, despite everything that has been handed to you over the years, I still think you made the right choice in the end, Issa," He interrupted her. He shook his head then. "With Dean, you would have had to constantly worry if he would ever come home. With Sam now . . . with his job at the firm, you don't have to worry about that anymore. You could be mad at him all you want to, but yet, at the end of the day, you know he'll come striding up that walk, his briefcase in his hand and that damn cellphone at his ear. You know he'll sit down and eat dinner with you, tuck Jason into bed later . . . then tuck you into bed . . ." He shrugged. "I like Dean, don't get me wrong – he's a fuckin' trip and a damn good Hunter! But you looked out for Jason when you made your choice. I respect you even more than I already do for that." He smiled a small smile as he placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I just want you to know that . . ." _

_ "Hey look, there's Cas and Julie!" She spoke, changing the subject, and Balthazar pursed his lips in slight irritation as he brought his gaze away from her to the front door. True to her word, Castiel and his wife Julie, carrying their son Ryder, entered the house. Issa and Julie waved excitingly to each other as Balthazar and Castiel shared a courteous nod of greeting before they moved to greet Sam over on the couch, and to ruffle Jason's thick black hair. _

_ "Oh God, he's coming over here!" Balthazar grumbled as he tossed back the rest of his wine and rolled his eyes. "I'm ditching, love. There's a hot brunette over that way that I've been making eyes at all night. I'll be over there if you need me!" Issa shot him a look. _

_ "It won't hurt you to say hi to Cas, Balthazar! You haven't seen each other in forever and he's been meaning to get in touch with you to catch up!" She snapped at him and he sighed and rolled his eyes as he acquiesced. He stayed and the both of them stood there in front of the dining table laden with food while they waited for their old friend to finally reach them. _

_ "Issa, Balthazar . . . how are you guys?" He asked, and Balthazar smiled tightly and nodded stiffly in greeting. Issa, however, hugged him warmly. _

_ "Cas, it's so great that you and Julie could make it! And you brought Ryder too, I see!" She spoke, and Castiel nodded as he turned and they watched as Ryder and Jason both spoke to each other in a mixture of broken English before running over to a toy chest in the corner. Sam grinned and said something inaudible to Julie although his eyes were on his son all the while, watching him like a hawk. _

_ "Yeah, we thought we'd bring him . . . figured that Jason might need some company of his own during the party, although Sam seems like he wish we didn't! That kid could have stayed by him all night and he wouldn't have minded!" He spoke and Balthazar rolled his eyes again as Issa laughed and agreed. _

_ "Okay, this is getting as boring as Catholic wedding! If you guys need me, I'll be over here, flirting with this stunning woman who eventually tonight, I am going to be pouring strawberry jelly all over her body!" Castiel's eyebrows furrowed slightly as Issa turned a vague shade of green at the thought._

_ "Eww . . .?" Castiel spoke slowly and Balthazar shrugged._

_ "To each his own, buddy, to each his own! I happen to like strawberry jelly and women both, and I have found over the years that they make a remarkably good match!" He spoke genially as he slapped him on the back and touched Issa gently on the arm before inching past them and making a languid beeline for a beautiful woman with long brown hair and an angelic face standing in a corner talking with a woman with a short blonde bob. They were both holding wine glasses filled with Chardonnay and when Balthazar entered the conversation genially, the woman flushed and grinned. Issa shivered violently again at the thought as Castiel grinned and stepped closer to her._

_ "He hasn't changed in the least since coming back, has he?" He asked, and Issa shook her head._

_ "No . . . oh God no, he hasn't!" She replied, laughing a little in weariness and Castiel grinned and laughed a little as well as he glanced at Jason and Ryder playing feet away. _

_ "How is everyone? Have you heard from them at all?" She asked, referring to, of course, her brothers. Castiel glanced at her. _

_ "Luc' and Michael are still in the Cage and Raphael is still in Solitary . . . I don't think he's ever gonna be let out," He spoke and she pursed her lips but didn't say anything. He glanced at her, his gaze keen. He had always been able to tell what she was thinking. That was why they were such good friends. "But you knew that, didn't you? You uh . . . you meant Gabriel, didn't you?" Issa didn't have to nod, he knew. He sighed then._

_ "You know, you have a habit of hurting Angels who fall in love with you, Issa - a dangerous habit! He's hurting from what you done to him - how you chose Sam and Dean and Jason over him. Even now, years later, he's still hurting. However, he has also been trying to fix things, which is unlike him, I suppose. He's been working with God to reform Heaven – educating Angels, trying to prevent them from Falling but not stopping them if they do," He shrugged. "From what I hear, it's not that bad of a place anymore. He's learned a lot from the war . . . and dying . . ." Issa sighed and hugged herself._

_ "It's been a hard year, Cas . . . I'm just happy it's almost over." She spoke slightly bitterly, and Castiel smiled a small, comforting smile before he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and brought her close, where he pressed a gentle, loving kiss to her temple. _

_ "You're a good woman, Issa; a good wife and an even better mother! You'll survive, I have no doubt of that." He told her in a voice that said you'll-see, as he rubbed her arm gently with his hand and Issa smiled as her and Sam's eyes connected from across the room. And when they did and when she saw the look of love and adoration in his eyes as he gazed at her, Issa knew that she would survive . . . she would survive as long as long as she still had Sam and Jason._

* * *

_ "_Man_, babe, do you look tired!" Sam laughed as he walked back into the kitchen later that night, after everyone had left. Issa laughed shortly and scratched her forehead as she stood, forearm deep in soap suds, before the kitchen sink, washing the various dishes that had carried food that evening before depositing them into the dishwasher. And there were _a lot _of dishes._

_ "Sam, baby, you have _no_ idea!" She grinned as she glanced back at him, shaking her head as she did so. He grinned back as he sat down on a barstool and leaned on the island countertop. "Did Jason go to sleep alright?" Sam nodded._

_ "Yeah, he was pretty wiped out too. He had quite an exciting night!" Issa grinned and laughed._

_ "I bet! Abby and Julie could barely take their hands off of him! They adore him – everyone did! Even _Balthazar _said that he was a beautiful baby!" Sam recoiled in shock._

_ "Wow . . . _Balthazar_ said that? Shit, I'm taking that to heart!" Issa grinned as Sam got up and walked into the living room, his booted feet falling heavily onto the polished wood floor as he went._

_ "Could you _possibly_ have gotten a bigger tree?" He called from the living room, a grin on his face and in his voice, and Issa returned the grin as she moved across the kitchen to lean against the archway connecting the dining room and the living room, wiping her hands off on a dishtowel as she went. _

_ "Well, you know, Jason picked it out, and he had to have the biggest one we could fit in the house, so it's understandable right?" She asked, and he continued to grin as he glanced at her. Standing in front of the lit Christmas tree, he never looked handsomer. Light flickering off of his dark skin and hair, his eyes alight with happiness . . . Issa's breath was temporarily taken away. She had never remember ever wanting Sam as keenly as she did then._

_ "Yeah, that's completely understandable, I guess . . ." He spoke as he moved over to the fireplace beside the Christmas tree, where their stockings hung. He then picked up a nearby Wal-Mart bag filled with stocking stuffers, where he began, well, stuffing their stockings. _

_ "Think Jason will like his presents alright . . .?" She asked him thoughtfully as she gazed at the colorfully wrapped packages underneath the tree, her head falling back against the archway as she did so. Sam glanced at her, a look of mock disbelief on his face._

_ "Are you kidding me? He's been squawking nonstop about those damn Tonka trucks and racecars that I could barely hear myself think half the time!" He joked and Issa laughed as he moved aside the grate lining the fireplace and picked up a nearby boot. Issa pushed herself off of the archway and took a few steps into the living room, her eyebrows furrowing in slight confusion the entire time._

_ "What are you doing, Sam?" She asked, in interest and Sam grinned mischievously as he glanced up at her._

_ "My Christmases got spoiled when I was younger because Dean told me that Santa didn't exist when I was six or sevem!" He told her as he stamped the sole of the boot into the dark ashes of the fireplace. He winked at her. "Let's not spoil it for Jason, eh?" _

_ Issa grinned as she watched him make a careful line of ashy boot prints from the opened fireplace to the Christmas tree and presents. It was ingenious, she had to admit. "Yeah, have you noticed that I didn't place wreaths up this year?" She asked and he nodded._

_ "Yes, thank you for that too! I don't think Jason would enjoy seeing me crack off a limb of his preciously decorated evergreen Christmas tree in order to stab a stake through the heart of evil Santa!" He replied jokingly as he stood and replaced the boot carefully beside its match by the fireplace. She glanced at the tree. Yes, it was clear a four-year-old had decorated it. All the decorations were located on the bottom half of the tree going all the way around and it was there they stayed. Whenever Issa or Sam tried to move the decorations, Jason would always howl and whine until they were put back into their proper place._

_Sam wiped his hands off on his jeans and they gazed down at his handiwork on the wood floor. Sam was nodding his head in approval. "I think I did pretty well, don't you . . . think . . .?"_

_ He trailed off when he saw the soft, lazy look that Issa was giving him, and immediately his eyes softened too. The air between them turned electric and Issa smiled a small smile as she moved over to him, her hand moving to fall on his chest. _

_ "Where's my Christmas present, Santa, or do I have to wait for tomorrow night? I've been a relatively good girl . . ." She asked him quietly, and Sam's eyes darkened with lust and desire as he grinned and looped an arm around her waist. He brought her close to him, where he leaned down and kissed her deeply . . . lovingly. They broke apart seconds later and Sam nodded to the fireplace._

_ "I could make another fire . . . spread a few blankets and pillows down on the floor, get us a bottle of wine . . ." He leaned down and put his lips to her ear. "We could take a leaf out of Balthazar's book and I could lick the wine off of you if we didn't feel like drinking it . . ." Issa couldn't help the shiver of desire that flooded down her spine at his words and she was sorely tempted to agree with him. However, she grinned and shook his head as she gently pushed him away._

_ "I think the only thing Jason would be scarred more by, aside from evil Santa dragging you down the stairs to the fireplace in a bloody red bag, would see us making love on the floor _before _the fireplace when he woke up in the morning!" She spoke, and Sam nodded in agreement for a moment before he shrugged and bent down, where he picked her up and slung her over his shoulder like a sack of toys. Letting out a shriek of surprise, Issa wriggled against him in her quest to get down._

_ "Sam . . .! Sam let me down this instant!" She squeaked and he laughed and shook his head._

_ "You're the one that didn't wanna do it on the floor, Issa! I'm only complying with your orders!" He replied and she pursed her lips in slight irritation._

_ "Sam, I mean it! Let me the fuck down!" _

_ "Mm . . . _fucking_ . . ." Sam mused quietly and Issa growled as she reached down and slapped his ass in both warning and to get him to pay attention to her. She was promptly rewarded with his hand connecting with her ass in turn., the sting making her squeak out in surprise when heat pooled low in her belly, which was currently pressing into his shoulder. They walked up the stairs in silence but when they reached the second floor, he spoke again,_

_ "You sure do like these shoes, don't you? You wear them damn near everywhere!" Sam spoke as he fingered the shiny leather black Christian Louboutin's that she was currently wearing. Issa huffed. _

_ "I would like it even better if they were on the floor!" She spoke sarcastically and immediately became stunned when Sam turned the corner leading to their bedroom, depositing her shoes on the floor as he walked down the hallway. _

_ "Keep talking Issa, I'm not letting you down until I _want _you down! Besides, you _asked_ for a present! I'm just about to deliver it to you, too . . ." They had reached the door to the master bedroom by then and Sam waited for a moment for her to speak. Finally she did, and when she did, her voice was small and slightly angry._

_ "Since you won't let me down, can we please do it against the wall again?" _

_ Sam grinned and nodded as he opened the door to the darkened room beyond. He clicked on the light and stepped inside, closing the door behind him with his foot. "Oh don't worry baby . . . I won't let you down unfulfilled . . ." _


	10. Chapter 9

"Is this the place?"

Issa nodded as they pulled up in the parking lot of an old abandoned mill located a few miles outside of Winchester, Massachusetts. Dean sighed as they all filed out of the car, doors slamming shut behind them. "How come everything has to meet with us in abandoned mills or factories? Why can't they meet us somewhere fun or safe – like a Doctor's Office or a Chuckie E. Cheese?" Issa laughed.

"You guys did have to deal with that wannabe Roanoke Colony didn't you? Well, there was your 'Doctor's Office' joke flying out the window. As for the Chuckie E. Cheese, well . . ." She shrugged. "We can always hope, can't we?"

"So who are we meeting here?" It was Jason who asked this question, and both Issa and Dean glanced back at him.

"We . . . we don't know." Issa spoke quietly. "We found the note lying on the dresser this morning, before you woke up." Jason pursed his lips.

"Oh, so you guys were awake?" Dean and Issa glanced at each other.

"Yeah, but it wasn't what you think . . ." Dean spoke quietly as he led the way into the abandoned mill, a shotgun in each of their hands. And indeed, it wasn't what Jason surely thought. Issa didn't wake up that morning and crawl into Dean's hotel bed like she was sorely tempted to do. No, she woke up that morning, made a pot of coffee and sat down to do research into what _exactly _Sam was doing in Massachusetts ten long years ago. When Dean woke up, he joined her. There was no making love that morning between them. Actually, there had been no making love between them at all since they left Kansas.

"The note smelled of sulfur – didn't you catch that?" Dean asked her, and Issa nodded.

"Yeah, I caught that pretty quickly, actually. It means there's a pretty good chance that we're meeting a demon." Dean's jaw hardened.

"Well, you know, as long as they don't try and kill us, I suppose they're worth hearing out." Issa glanced at him.

"And if they do . . . try and hurt us?" Dean looked at her, holding her gaze unwavering with his.

"Then I'll kill them without batting an eye, Issa . . . simple as that." He spoke before they entered a huge room that _had_ to be the actual industrial floor, where the mill had made its signature goods. Their booted feet landed heavy on the concrete floor, causing echoes to spread throughout the darkened room.

"Is this . . . what you guys had to deal with every day?" Jason asked, swallowing hard, and Dean shrugged.

"Not every day . . . but basically, yeah."

"Not every day? Oh come on, Deano, you know it was pretty close!"

All three of them whirled around, shotguns pointed at the tall man wearing all black standing before them. Dean and Issa's eyes hardened. "Crowley . . . should have known it would be you." Issa spoke coldly and he smiled at her.

"Oh Issa, its go good to know that your looking as beautiful as ever! You still the spitfire between the sheets as Sam likes to brag about?"

"I don't know, why don't you ask me?" Dean growled and Crowley's eyebrows rose in amusement as he turned his attention onto Dean.

"Well, well, well . . . you certainly like your Winchesters, don't you Issa? They happen to be your favorite gun as well as your favorite men! Tell me, is there no Winchester aside from your own son that you haven't banged?" Issa's teeth gritted in anger.

"Well, there was always John -"

"Yeah, there was, but you know . . . Lana got there first, didn't she? She was quite vocal about it too, from what I remember. It's always been a poor subject between you two, hasn't it?" Dean eyebrows furrowed in confusion as Crowley turned a wide-eyed, almost reverent stare onto Jason. "And you . . . you must be the Prodigy himself!"

"Prodigy? What the Hell are you talking about?" Jason demanded, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion, and Crowley turned a surprised eye onto Issa.

"What, you didn't tell him?"

"Tell him what?" Dean asked, as confused as Jason was, and Crowley laughed.

"You mean you don't know either?" He asked, and Issa shook her head.

"Crowley, I'm afraid you have all of us here at a disadvantage. _I_ don't even know what you're talking about!" She spoke, and Crowley nodded.

"You mean . . . you – favorite daughter of God, lover of Michael and Lucifer and Gabriel – don't even know about your own son . . . _what he is_!"

"Mom, what's he talking about?" Jason asked in bewilderment as he through a glance at her, and Issa shook her head.

"Crowley, what the fuck are you talking about?" She snapped and he sighed and rolled his eyes as he turned around and walked off a few steps.

"You mean, neither of you know the powers your boy possesses?" He asked as he turned around to face them again. "You mean you don't know how both Angels and Demons quake at the sight of him – as the progeny of an Archangel and a mortal – a mortal who was once chosen to be the Vessel of Michael?" Crowley gazed at him in respect. "Son, you have quite the fanbase and well as pedigree."

"So what is it, Crowley? He's the strongest fuckin' Angel in centuries?" Issa asked sarcastically, laughing, but trailed off when Crowley turned an interested gaze onto her. He shrugged.

"How is that funny?"

"You're not fucking serious?!" She asked in disbelief and for once, Dean too found himself speechless. Jason's eyes widened in shock at what he was hearing.

"How is that so hard to believe, Issa?" He asked her as he crossed the distance between them, where he gazed into her eyes – deeply. "The strongest Angel has long been thought of as being the progeny of a mortal and an Archangel!" He grinned then. "You've got it all, girlfriend!

"For instance, Issa!" He spoke, holding up a finger. "Have you ever noticed how powerful your son already is? He resembles Michael in power, doesn't he? Can already wield fire like a semi-Pro – has the emotional depth of a Buddhist Monk – something that some Angels have _yet _to master – centuries later!" Crowley shook his head. "That only happens when two very special people conceive a child. You, being the Archangel," He spoke, holding out a hand to her. "And one very special mortal!" He spoke quietly and Issa's eyebrows furrowed together in slight confusion.

"You mean Sam . . .?" Crowley shrugged.

"I can't say. I honestly can't."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Dean snapped and Crowley shrugged again, more exaggeratedly.

"It sounds exactly as it is supposed to!" He all but snapped back as he glanced at Dean. "Fortunately for you, however, I am not here to be Maury or Montel. I am here to tell you, that I do indeed, have Sam."

"Where is he?" Issa demanded angrily, her eyes snapping with electricity, and Crowley laughed as his eyebrows rose in amusement.

"Oh wow! Damn, I now know who has the dick in the bedchamber, if you catch my meaning!" He glanced at Dean. "No wonder she's fuckin' you on the side! At least you can give her a run for her money in bed!" Dean growled as he lowered the shotgun and took out the Colt instead, where he aimed it straight for his head. Crowley immediately threw up his hands. "Whoa, whoa, whoa there, Tonto – get off the horse! It was a simple joke!"

"I don't call that a joke, you son-of-a-bitch!" Crowley's eyes widened even further in amusement.

"I guess the rumors were true, then . . ."

"What rumors?" It was Jason this time who spoke, in a small, quiet voice, and all three of them glanced at him. Crowley continued to gaze at him, long after Issa and Dean had returned their glares back onto Crowley himself.

"There are rumors that the love your uncle Dean and your mother here, share, is more than just a mortal coil. Many whisper that it's . . . predestined."

"Crowley, where's Sam?" Issa asked firmly, ignoring his words – _choosing _to ignore his words. Dean pursed his lips slightly but stood unwavering, the Colt still pointed at his head.

"He's safe . . . relatively, anyway. Although he's done more man-slutting around than Dean here, ever has! He also has something I want too . . . an Item that I very much want but I have yet to find. The more he lies about where he's keeping it, the more I'm going to torture him until he does eventually rat!" He spoke and Issa gritted her teeth, Jason doing the same. Crowley laughed and gazed at Issa in approval. "I see the pup is baring his teeth! And what sharp teeth they are too!"

"Crowley -!"

"Don't you talk about my dad, you sick mother -!"

"_Jason_!" Dean snapped, interrupting both Issa and him, and Crowley continued to laugh in glee.

"Yes, pup, listen to your uncle! Of course, that's not all you have to listen to, isn't it?" He asked, his brows rising in slight interest. "Do you also have to lay awake at night, in some shitty hotel room and listen to them fuck in the next bed, feet away? Or wait, no you don't! They have more courtesy, don't they? They do it in the bathroom, don't they – in the shower, while you read or play your videogames in the main room, all the time _trying _not to think of what exactly they are doing in there. But you can still hear them, can't you?" Grinning wolfishly, he moved slowly over to Jason and for the life of her, Issa had to give it to her son – he stood his ground and held the imperious demon's gaze the entire time. Dean followed him with the Colt all the while and Issa's eyes flitted to him the entire time.

"Dean . . .?"

"But it's different than hearing your parents fuck, isn't it Jason? When your parent's fuck in that big sleigh bed in their bedroom, its almost expected, isn't it? It's easier to drown out sounds that have always been and that always will be. But how does it feel knowing that . . . _they_ fuck?" He asked, glancing back at Dean and Issa. Jason didn't follow his gaze; he simply averted his eyes to the concrete floor underneath their feet, his hands tightening into fists at his side. Dean noticed this and tensed slightly. "How does it feel knowing that your precious uncle Dean, who you've worshiped since you were a child, is taking the one thing that's supposed to be your father's, unquestionably? Can you honestly love your mother . . . knowing that she allows him to – that she takes everything he gives her like a little _whore_ -!"

Crowley never got to finish the sentence. At the sound of him calling his mother a whore, Jason's teeth gritted in anger and flames immediately started engulfing his hands, licking and growing bigger in the stale air of the mill. Crowley abruptly stopped and began stepping backwards, his eyes wide at the sight of his hands.

"It's true! It's all true -!"

"Don't you . . . _dare_ call my mother a whore, you demon bastard!" He growled before he ran at him, his flaming hands meeting Crowley's face with a sizzling popping sound. Issa winced away, Dean taking her in his arms to shield her from the fire and the smoke and the smell. They heard Crowley's screams from Jason's hands meeting the flesh of his face and there was scuffle before Jason let out a pained yell. Then, there was running footsteps that gradually slipped away and Issa slowly unfurled herself from Dean's arms. When she saw Jason slumped a few feet away, holding a profusely bleeding arm, her face paled and she let out a shriek of fear as she ran over to him. She slumped to the concrete before him, allowing him to fall into her arms as she did so.

"Jason – Jason, baby, what did he do to you?" She asked shrilly, and Jason grinned and laughed.

"I'm fine mom! I think . . . I think he dislocated my shoulder when he broke away . . ." He spoke as Dean kneeled before him and rolled up his sleeve.

"What about the blood?" She asked, and Dean shook his head.

"I don't think it's his, Issa . . . I think its Crowley's . . ." He spoke as he finished rolling up his sleeve. Not seeing any wound in order for there to be blood leaking from Jason's body, he gently touched his shoulder. Jason flinched and let out an agonized yelp as he bit the back of his hand. Dean sighed. "Yeah, he's right; he's got a dislocated shoulder. I should know . . . I've had enough of them myself!"

"Let's take him back to the hotel room, Dean!" Issa spoke hurriedly. "I don't want to be here if Crowley gets mad and decides to come back for him!" Dean nodded in agreement as they got to their feet, Dean placing Jason's one good arm around his shoulders as they made their way to the front door of the mill to the waiting Impala beyond.

* * *

"Okay buddy, this is gonna hurt like a mother!" Dean spoke as he took a firm, but gentle grasp on Jason's dislocated shoulder. Jason nodded and closed his eyes tight. "On the count of three, okay . . .?" Jason nodded and gritted his teeth together as he braced himself for the incoming pain. Dean's eyes held Issa's for a moment, the both of them counting down. When they hit one, Dean pushed with all his might and Jason let out a strangled yelp of pain as his shoulder was popped back into its socket.

"Oh God, I was so worried about you!" Issa cried as she took Jason into her arms then and rocked him gently back and forth. Dean sat down on the floor and leaned against the bed, where he rubbed his face with his hands. "I thought I would lose you!" With eyes stormy with anger, she broke apart from him. "How could you have done something so stupid? We had the Colt with us for a reason!" She demanded and Jason swallowed heavily, his eyes ghosting over with tears.

"I didn't . . ." He swallowed heavily and shook his head. "I saw red when he called you a whore. Your not a whore mom . . . your not a whore if you love someone." Issa and Dean's eyes connected and Issa swallowed heavily as she resolutely turned her eyes back onto her son.

"But, back at the house, you -"

"That was stupid of me, mom!" He interrupted her, closing his eyes in sudden weariness. "I was angry and I was confused and I . . . I took it out on you. I shouldn't have, I know that now." Issa nodded as she rubbed his back gently.

"Your tired . . . you should go to bed." She spoke and he nodded as lay back on the bed he shared with Issa, his eyes immediately closing. Dean, however, stood up from his place on the floor.

"I'm, uh . . . I'm going to be outside . . ." He spoke, somewhat awkwardly, and Issa nodded numbly.

"Yeah, I'll be out there in a minute . . ." She replied quietly, and he smiled a small smile as he left the hotel room, closing the door quietly behind him. He stood outside for a minute, breathing in deeply the clean night air, before he moved over to sit down on the hood of the Impala. He sat there for a minute, thinking, and was only brought out of his thoughts by the door to the hotel room opening and closing quietly. He glanced up and smiled a small smile when he saw Issa step out. She returned the smile as she moved to join him on the hood, her arms crossing in front of her chest.

"Dean . . . Dean, what happened back there?" She asked quietly, and he shrugged his broad shoulders.

"I don't know. I was about to ask you the same thing!" She shook her head.

"I never would have expected him to react that way, Dean," She spoke, her voice still quiet. "This entire time, it seemed he always showed a certain amount of loyalty towards Sam. But when he . . . when he hurt Crowley for calling me a whore, I . . . I felt proud of him." Dean gazed at her.

"You should. He used his powers to protect you. Nothing is stronger than a bond between a mother and child." She smiled in interest at him.

"You knew it would happen, didn't you?" Dean shrugged again.

"Kind of . . . I saw how tore up you were over this whole thing with you and Jason since we left Kansas, and I knew what Crowley would pinpoint on. It was either now or never, I suppose . . ."

Issa smiled and opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by her cellphone going off in the pocket of her jacket. Brining it out into view, she cut it on, her eyes running over a new text. When she was finished, it closed it and hopped off of the hood of the car.

"Come on, we gotta go meet someone real quick." She spoke and Dean, gazing at her in bewilderment, stood too.

"Who is this again?"

"No time, Dean, just get in the car! Jason will be fine by himself; we'll only be gone for at least an hour!" She told him hurriedly and Dean shrugged as he moved to get in the driver's seat of the Impala.

_ "Well, I've had more trying things happen to me today, I suppose . ._


	11. Chapter 10

**Yeah, sorry for the late update, but I recently lost my internet connection and had to wait for my service provider to come out and fix the problem. It is fixed and hopefully, I'll be updating a lot more now.**

**Sorry for the short chapter too, I'll fix that as well :)**

**PS - I did bring back Bela, so yeah, I know she's dead. I brought her back because apparently, I am one of the few people who actually LIKED her and secondly, because this is MY story and I can do what I want to ;)**

**PPs - There is a lemon too, but its a minor . . . well actually, no its not - not really :).**

* * *

"Uh, who exactly are we meeting again, Issa?" Dean asked uncertainly as they walked across the darkened parking lot later that night, and Issa shrugged half-heartingly.  
"Oh just . . . a really good friend of mine. We go way back . . ."

"Do I know her?"

"Issa . . .? Issa, darling, is that you?" Issa smiled a tense smile as Dean's face paled to ash at the sight and sound of Bela Talbot.

"Issa, what are you . . .?" He trailed off, however, when Issa grinned and immediately embraced the woman tightly, who returned the embrace with equal fervor. When they broke apart, Dean held a look of intense confusion on his face. "Um . . . isn't she supposed to be dead?" He asked, and Issa sighed.

"Technically, yes, she is. But . . . I pulled a few strings with Cas a few years before me and Sam started mainstreaming – you know, as a birthday favor - and . . . and well, he got her back up here." Bela smiled a small, thankful smile.

"I owe her my life, Dean. Of course I couldn't say the same for you, speaking about what went down between us in the Pit." She spoke, somewhat bitterly and he nodded as Issa's lips pursed.

"Sure you do. Issa, why exactly are we meeting with her?" Issa rolled her eyes.

"Dean, we need to figure out what this 'Item' is, that Crowley wants so damn badly. We need the Item to get back Sam. We _get _the Item, we get Sam. And who better to figure out what some mysterious lost object is, than Bela?"

"You do realize that she could just stab us in the back later once she figures out what the fuck it could be, right?" He asked and Bela shot him a glare so icy cold that for a moment, Dean felt himself freeze.

"I do have loyalties, Dean, believe it or not!" She snapped, her eyes sparking with electricity. "And my loyalties right now just happen to be with Issa! She saved me from Hell, I owe her and above all else, she's my friend – maybe my _only_ friend! I'm not stupid enough to throw that away for a quick buck anymore! Actually, I don't have to anymore . . ." That promptly shut Dean up and Issa turned to Bela.

"So, Bells . . . what do we have?" Bela sighed.

"Truthfully, I laughed when I found out. It's just so . . . _unbelievable_!" Dean furrowed his eyebrows.

"What is it?" Bela glanced at him before smiling weakly.

"It's the Monkey's Paw."

It was like everything fell into a deathly quiet. Dean and Issa both didn't know what to say and Bela sighed. "Yeah, I thought the same thing."

"But wait, isn't . . . isn't the Monkey's Paw just a story?" Dean asked, and Issa nodded.

"Yeah, it was. It was a short story written by W.W Jacobs in 1902. It's about a monkey's paw that would grant its owner three wishes but at a terrible price. It was written to show people that you can't interfere with fate without facing some kind of consequence for it – most of the times, the consequences were bad and deadly." Dean shrugged.

"Then what would Sammy have to do with it?" He asked, and Bela sighed.

"Isn't it obvious guys? He used it."

"What do you mean he used it?" Issa asked quickly, and she shrugged.

"Well, think about it Issa. This whole . . . making a deal with a Crossroads Demon for something we don't even know what yet ten years ago – that was stupid and reckless, especially for Sam! Then, when he was in Massachusetts a few years back and he realized that his ten year deadline was coming up, he must have gotten scared – scared that he was going to leave you and Jason behind without him. Then, he finds the fabled Monkey's Paw; he buys it. Maybe he tries to reverse the deal he made. Maybe that . . . maybe that pissed off Crowley. Maybe Crowley figured out he had it decided he wanted it for himself. Maybe the Monkey's Paw, as a consquence, had him dragged to Hell earlier than usual. I don't know the whole story but I bet you anything that Sam tried to use it - it backfired and Crowley took notice."

"Well, where is it now?" Dean asked and Bela shrugged weakly.

"I don't know. See, once your three wishes are done or you're . . . _dead_, then the Paw moves on to its next victim or _victims_. It could be anywhere . . . _in the world _right now!" Dean sighed while Issa let out a helpless whine.

"Great . . . that's fucking great!" Dean muttered irritably, and Bela shook her head helplessly.

"I could probably track it down but it would take some time. Weeks, maybe months even!" She shook her head again. "Issa, I don't think Sam has that much time!" Issa nodded.

"Yeah . . . yeah I know Bela, and thank you!" She spoke, and Bela smiled sympathetically and nodded as they embraced again.

"Yeah, it was my pleasure. And keep searching for it, too. If I find it, I'll let you know, okay?" Issa nodded and thanked her one last time before they parted ways, Dean and Issa heading back to the Impala while Bela headed in the other direction towards her own car.

"So . . . Bela and you are friends huh?" He asked, and Issa laughed shortly. "Who would have thunk?"

"I don't need you reprimanding me Dean about who I become friends with over the years!" She spoke and he shook his head.

"Oh no, no, I wasn't gonna -!"

"You can stop right there, Dean!" She interrupted him, still a tad shortly, as they reached their retrospective sides of the Impala. They gazed at each other over the hood. "Despite what she has shown us in the past, she is a good friend now. She's helped me a million times – she's Jason Godmother for Christ's sake!" Dean's eyebrows rose.

"Wait, I thought Cas and Julie were Jason's Godparents?" He spoke and Issa sighed.

"Castiel is Jason's _Godfather_ – I love Balthazar to death, you know I do, but I'm not stupid enough to list him as my child's Godfather! For God's sake, Jason would be having orgy birthday parties and stripper nannies if Balthazar had his way! Anyway, Bela is his God_mother_. There's a difference."

"How the Hell did you convince Sam to do that? He hates her almost as much as I do!" He asked and Issa shrugged half-heartedly.

"Its not like he had much of a choice, really . . ." She muttered as she opened the Impala door and got into the passenger side of the car. "But that doesn't matter now. Let's head back to the hotel room before Jason misses us." Dean furrowed his eyebrows in slight confusion as he followed suit seconds later.

They drove back to the hotel in silence and when they pulled into the parking space beside their two rooms, Dean sat there for a moment, thinking, before he turned his head to gaze at her. "Did I do something?"

"What?" Issa asked, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion as she turned to gaze at him.

"Yeah, did I . . . did I do something to make you resent me lately?" Issa shook her head slowly.

"No, nothing I can think of, why?" Dean shrugged.

"It's just . . ." He sighed and shrugged again. "It's just, we stopped sleeping together and . . . any emotion that I show you now, you cringe away from and . . . I was just wondering if I had done anything recently. . ." Issa shook her head.

"Dean, I'm sorry but . . . if and _when_ we were to find Sam, we were going to have to stop all this anyway – the sex, the relationship. I just . . . I thought that while we were finding him, that it would be respectful towards him to _stop _all this." She told him and he rolled his eyes.

"Oh, so _now_ you choose to be respectful towards him?" He asked as he turned to gaze at her again. "Issa, respect towards your marriage – because this is really what the respect needs to be going towards, not Sam himself - kind of went out the window when we started sleeping together back in Kansas." Issa's jaw hardened as her eyes became heavy with tears.

_"How does it feel knowing your precious uncle Dean, who you've worshiped since you were a child, is taking the one thing that's supposed to be your father's, unquestionably? Can you honestly love your mother . . . knowing that she allows him to – that she takes everything he gives her like a little whore -!"_

Dean's gaze softened. "This is nothing to do with you and Sam is it? This is about what Crowley had said to Jason . . . about him calling you a whore . . ." Issa didn't reply, just looked away as a tear ran down her cheek, and Dean sighed again as he grabbed his keys and turned off the motor. "Issa, Crowley is a dick, you know this as much as we do! He would have said anything to get a rise out of us and it seemed it worked! But to me, this seems deeper than just Crowley. Because it seems to me, that you gotta have deeper problems in order to cringe away from me like I had the plague when days ago you were telling me that you loved me."

"_I never said that_!" She snapped at him, her eyes hard and furious beneath the light film of tears and Dean recoiled, his eyes growing wide with shock and understanding.

"That's it, isn't it? You're afraid to admit that you love me!" Issa shook her head.

"No . . . no I don't love you, Dean and I never have! I love . . . I love Sam - I've always loved Sam! But you . . . God no, you . . ." She shook her head and laughed, cruelly. "No, you've always just been a good lay. You've always been the one who could take my mind off of things for a night of amazing, mind-blowing sex! But no, your not love worthy for me . . . you've never been love worthy for me."

The old Dean . . . the old Dean would have laughed and said that he thought the same way about her. But this Dean . . . the Dean that had been controlling him for the past week or so -_ that _Dean . . . that Dean felt a knife descend into his heart and cruelly twist.

"You don't . . . you don't honestly mean that, do you?" Dean asked her after a moment, his eyes growing hard. When she didn't answer him, he laughed, cruelly too. Issa closed her eyes and flinched at that laugh. "How can you honestly sit there and tell me that all those times we slept together could be classified as _fucking_!" He shook his head. "You might claim otherwise, but let me tell you something that may be a bit of a shocker for you, okay? I never _fucked _you - not once! I made love to you . . . Issa. I always _just_ made love to you because I _do_ love you and unlike you, I'm not ashamed to admit it!" He snapped as he got out of the car and slammed the door. Issa flinched too as the car door slammed shut. She watched impassively, as he stalked toward the office, where he returned seconds later, with the key to a second hotel room. He unlocked the door and went into it, slamming that door too. Then, once she was completely alone, the dam broke and she descended into sobs.

* * *

Issa didn't mean to . . . but eventually, she found herself at Dean's hotel room door later that night, when Jason was still sound asleep, exhausted from his stressful, painful day. There were flickering lights on behind the ugly, tacky curtains covering the windows when she arrived at his door that told her that that the TV was on. Quite obviously he was in there. Doing what, she had no idea, but she suposed that she would soon figure it out.

She didn't mean to shakily knock on the door, so softly that for a moment she hoped he didn't hear her, or better yet, that was asleep or in the shower and he _couldn't _hear her. But when she heard the TV being cut off seconds later and heavy footfalls moving to the door, she knew that he _had _heard her. It was stupid for her to presume the latter, anyway. He was Hunter. He was trained to hear things that most regular mortals couldn't hear. So of course he would hear a soft knock on the door!

When he opened the door, revealing himself to her, she wanted to cry again. She wanted to cry out all the pain and misery that had been plaguing her and her torn heart this entire time. She wanted to do so many things . . . but she knew crying wouldn't earn her Dean's forgiveness this time.

"What do you want, Issa? Shouldn't you be in your room with Jason?" He asked her quietly, coldly, and she swallowed hard as she nodded and glanced at him. She wasn't able to meet his eyes. She knew she had hurt him . . . badly. She had torn out his heart with her words and she didn't know if she could give it back to him.

Well . . . she probably could but she wasn't sure if he would accept it.

"Y-yeah, I probably should, but . . . I couldn't sleep."

"Are the monsters keeping you up again?" He asked her, his voice softer but still cold, and she laughed a little as she closed her eyes and put her hand to her head. Monsters were a running joke for them, going all the way back to their first night together in Issa's hotel room after meeting Abby. It made her feel better knowing that he didn't hate her enough to not joke.

"You . . . have _no_ idea, Dean!" She muttered bitterly as she wearily shook her head and she could hear that heavy swallow in his voice when he spoke.

"You want me to help you get rid of them?"

Finally, she turned her eyes up to him, seeing his pained look and immediately wanted to take him in her arms and hug him and kiss him. "I didn't think you would want to . . ." Dean laughed shortly.

"I don't . . . I _really _fuckin'don't! But the twisted thing is . . . I can't stand to see you in this much pain!"

Swallowing heavily as well, Issa stepped forward and placed her hand on his chest, over his heart. She felt the beat of his powerful inner drum underneath her fingertips, and her eyes immediately started brimming with tears again. She missed hearing that heart underneath her when she slept . . . missed feeling his warm body against hers.

"I hate you . . . I fucking hate you for making me feel these things – things I should still be feeling for Sam!" She spoke before she sniffed, trying desperately to keep her tears away. "I've always loved Sam but there have always been _you _too_ – _hanging around in the sidelines, in the shadows, waiting to pick me up when I fell and to wipe away my tears when they came . . . doing the stuff that Sam never really did!" She spoke and stopped when Dean reached out and gently wiped away a tear that began making its way down her cheek. His eyes were soft when they gazed at her.

"God back to your hotel room, Issa . . . go back to Jason. He'll miss you if he wakes up and your not there." He spoke quietly before he mechanically brought his hand back to his side and stepped backwards, deeper into his shadowy hotel room. He was closing the door on her – closing the door on _them _and she didn't want that to happen – she _couldn't _allow that to happen! Who was he to tell her to go away when she came to him to apologize and admit that she was in the wrong?!

Her foot jammed into the doorway before she even realized that she had done it, keeping him from closing it. His eyes moved onto hers, wide with slight shock and then she was pushing past the flimsy wood of the hotel room door - pushing into his room and closing the door behind her with her foot. She was on him before he could say anything in protest, her lips crashing down onto his with an anger that shocked even her and then he was replying with equal anger. Their teeth gnashed violently together, their tongues fought for an angry dominance – they were ripping each other's clothes off – buttons flying every which way, zippers breaking and flimsy clothe tearing at the seams. Their hands pulled and yanked on each other's hair, causing Dean to growl in anger and Issa to breathlessly moan her encouragement.

Then she was pushing him back onto the bed and was straddling his hips seconds later. She felt his hard arousal through his jeans and let out an appreciative sound as his bruising kisses stopped and his teeth began an assault on the smooth skin of her neck and throat and shoulders. They nipped and sucked and bit at the smooth flesh as his hands grasped at her hips and thighs and her breasts and her nipples, leaving bruises in their wake.

Issa relished all of it. They needed this . . . they needed to throw all their anger and rage at each other for once – to vent it.

"Oh so _now_ your so eager, aren't you, Dean?" She asked him, grinning before immediately let out a yelp of slight pain as his hand fisted almost cruelly into her hair and sharply pulled her head back, giving him more flesh to bite and suckle.

"Oh just shut up and fuck me already!" He growled angrily and she immediately grinned bigger.

Hands almost immediately finished divesting them of their jeans and their underwear, and soon, she was straddling his hips again, watching with hooded eyes as she grasped him and guided him into her, a fluttery whimper escaping past her lips and his eyes closing in bliss as she did so.

And then his hands were on her waist and she was riding him, hard and rough and fast . . . riding him like the apocalypse was behind them again and for once, they weren't 'making love'. For once, they _were_ fucking – short and sweet and blindingly amazing.

After a moment, Dean let out a frustrated growl of irritation before he pulled out and flipped her over onto her stomach, where he pulled her up onto her hands and knees before him. He entered her again seconds later and resumed the same brutal pounding, his hand snaking between her thighs to encircle her nub, causing her to shudder and arch her back and whimper his name. Then, she was answering his thrusts with her own and they were racing towards that peak together. He moved over and over, frantically, primally, desperately, until they were panting from the exertion. She was climbing and he was driving her, overwhelming her and taking her until she realized that she _did _want this . . . that she wanted _him_ so much . . .

His hand fisted in her hair again. "Come on . . . come with me, Issa . . ." He panted and those words were her undoing. Moaning his name, she came, causing him to shoot overboard too, their orgasms hitting them like the broad side of a barn. The both of them seemed to freeze for a moment, the breath seeming to leave their bodies as they kneeled there on the bed, allowing it all to wash over them in warm, extremely pleasurable waves.

Arms trembling from supporting her weight, Issa waited until, satiated, Dean slowly pulled out of her before she slowly collapsed to the bed, her chest heaving. He was still kneeling beside her, his own chest heaving as well as hers. Sweat coated their bodies like a second skin and he gazed down at her with tired eyes when one of her hands smoothed lovingly over across the tight banding of his stomach. She watched a tad narcissistically as his cock twitched and stiffened slightly from her touch. Smiling then, she took her hand away then and held her arms out to him.

"Come here Dean . . ." She whispered, her eyes soft, and he nodded as he collapsed beside her. He laid his head on her stomach and wrapped his arms around her waist, where he buried his face into the smooth skin of her belly, his eyes closing in utter contentment. She found she liked being held this way by him . . . being held like he was clinging to her so she wouldn't go away. This wasn't Dean but yet, it was Dean . . . it was completely, utterly and irrevocably Dean.

_"How does it feel knowing your precious uncle Dean, who you've worshiped since you were a child, is taking the one thing that's supposed to be your father's, unquestionably? Can you honestly love your mother . . . knowing that she allows him to – that she takes everything he gives her like a little whore -!"_

She shook the poisoning thoughts from her head. Dean was right. She shouldn't listen to anything Crowley had said to get a rise out of Jason. "Dean, I . . . I love you." She spoke quietly, blush tingeing her cheeks as she made it sound so firm and final. She felt him grin seconds later.

"I love you too, Issa." He answered back, his voice slightly muffled before he lapsed back into silence. Her fingers drew nonexistent patterns into the smooth, bronze skin of his back all the while that eventually turned into light scratches as she sunk back down into her thoughts. After a moment, however, she was brought out of those thoughts by Dean letting out a sound of bliss that came from deep within his throat. "Oh God, don't stop Issa . . .!" He begged her through barely parted lips, and she grinned.

"Why Dean, do you like having your back scratched?"

"Name me one person who doesn't!" He replied almost immediately, a grin breaking out across his features again.

"I never knew that about you!" She spoke musingly and he continued to grin as he crawled up the bed to face her. Leaning over her, supported by one arm, he kissed her again, lovingly, and she grinned as she felt him stiffen against her hip, her hand moving to gently run up and down his side. "Oh God, you want to go _again_ Dean? And so soon too!" She teased and he nodded as he moved to nuzzle her neck.

"I promise I'll make it worth your while . . ." He told her and she gazed at him skeptically.

"Oh really . . .?" She asked and immediately regretted the words when he grinned wolfishly and moved to kneel above her. He grasped her hips and pulled her to him, her legs moving to hang on either side of his hips. Descending back onto her, his lips met the smooth flesh of her throat and collarbone before moving down over her breasts and the valley between them, to the smooth skin of her belly and then lower still. She opened her grinning mouth to say something but immediately, it curved off into a fluttery moan when his mouth disappeared in-between her legs.

_Oh God, Dean . . ._


	12. Chapter 11

**Yeah, sorry I haven't updated in a while but I've been kinda indifferent towards fanfiction right now. A shitty review that ruins your day and makes you doubt every female character you've ever written will do that you! However, I do feel bad for not updating all my stories and I know this is kinda a short one, but I hope its a good one :)  
****Yeah, I know the beginning of this chapter is kinda . . . touchy, and believe me, I debated heavily on including it in here but I kinda needed something to kick me in the ass and get this story moving, so this was it. I kinda like it and it kinda fits, so hopefully you guys won't hate me too much for writing it. But, if you ask me, it is totally something that Crowley would do :)**

* * *

"Sam . . . Sammy?"

Sam grunted slightly before he jumped awake, his tired eyes immediately scanning the room for any sign of who had called his name. The omnipresent voice called out his name again, this time much quieter, and he shook his head, trying vainly to rid himself of the smoke that clouded his vision and fogged his brain. "Who's there? What do you want?" He called back and immediately, the unknown being let out a breath of relief.

"Oh thank God Sam, you're alright!" The voice spoke in a mixture of relief and excitement, and he heard the hurried clomping of leather boots on concrete coming straight towards him. Swallowing heavily, he turned his eyes upward, only for them to widen in disbelief. He watched with his vision as clear as ever, as Issa ran into the room and dropped down before him.

"Issa . . . Issa, is it you?"

"Oh God, Sam, we looked for you _everywhere_!" She spoke, her eyes and face radiating relief and tears welling up in her eyes as she framed his face with her hands and kissed him gently. He barely reciprocated before she broke apart and smoothed a lock of hair out of his face, her thumbs running over his cheekbones as she did so. Tears continued to flood her eyes as she gazed at him. Then, she shook her head. "The police told us to stop looking for you, but we couldn't! We just _had _to keep looking!" Sam furrowed his brow as Issa leaned up to unchain his arms. When she was done, Sam let out a grunt and fell limply to the floor, wincing as blood flooded back into his arms again, immediately allowing pins and needles to settle within his muscles.

"Who's with you?"

"Dean and Jason are looking for you too. We split up in order to cover more ground. Jason's with Dean, though, so don't worry!" She replied, and Sam turned an incredulous gaze onto her.

"Wait, Jason's here too? What is he doing here, Issa?" He asked her in slight anger, but Issa shushed him as she framed his face with her hands again and kissed him gently, lovingly.

"That doesn't matter right now, Sam!" She whispered, smiling kindly down at him, and he shook his head as he broke apart from her.

"Yes, it does, Issa! I thought we talked about this! We agreed not to let Jason get involved into the Hunting -!"

He was interrupted again by Issa chuckling and kissing him again. "Please, they can wait! I haven't seen you in forever . . . I've missed you Sam!" Issa grabbed his hand and moved it slowly up her outer thigh to the warm flesh underneath her shirt. "I've missed your hands on my body and your lips too . . . your hands on my breasts, your teeth on my nipples . . ." His hands trailed up to grasp her breasts underneath her shirt and he closed his eyes in bliss as she bit down on her bottom lip and moaned slightly, her back arching, pushing her breasts even more into his hands. "I've missed you being inside of me . . ."

He knew that they should probably be trying to find Dean and Jason in order to escape at that moment, but for some reason, he couldn't think of why they should hurry. He and Issa were finally reunited after months of being separated. They had missed each other – especially Sam! Issa had been the one thing that he had clung to in order to survive and keep his sanity throughout every torture session and night he spent as Crowley's prisoner. Why could they not spend a few minutes to get reacquainted?

His lips met the smooth skin of her throat then, and Issa moaned as her head fell back and her hands glided effortlessly through the silky locks of his dark brown hair. "Oh make love to me, Sam!" She breathed and he didn't answer – he merely growled in happy obedience as he lowered them back onto the floor underneath them.

"Its all rather . . . easy, with mortals, isn't it?"

Crowley turned to glare at the demon standing beside him before moving to gaze back at the scene set before them. "Rather ingenious too, I must admit, my Lord. Getting a Siren to seduce Sam Winchester into thinking his wife and family have actually _found _him! Whatever shall you do with this?" He asked, grinning, and Crowley pursed his lips.

"I want the Item and I want it now, but unfortunately, Giraffe and his cunt of a wife have both been unsuccessful ventures. His son is also a no go, speaking he can . . . hurt me . . ." He spoke gruffly, referring to, of course, his badly scarred face. He winced with the pain as the outermost molecules of his fingers gently connected with the seared flesh. "After he finishes jizzing into the Siren, kill her . . . in front of him." The demon turned to gaze at him with shock and interest both shining in his eyes.

"K-kill her – are you sure? Why my Lord, hasn't she been most useful to us?" Crowley grinned and laughed.

"Oh yes, she's been useful to us, I cannot deny that! However, I want him _broken_, you understand! And if killing his 'wife' in front of him will do the trick, then do it! Maybe he'll spill the beans on where the Item is when his entire life lies seemingly dead before him!"

* * *

Issa awoke that morning to her cellphone ringing on the nearby hotel night stand and she and Dean wrapped around each other like entwining ivy. With their legs seemingly hopelessly entwined, arms around each other and Dean's head being pillowed on her chest, it was amazing that Issa even managed to find a free hand in order to pick up the cellphone in the first place.

"Hello . . .?" Issa asked tiredly into the phone, her mind making a mental note to quiet down her voice when Dean mumbled something and shifted against her slightly, where he buried his face deeper into her neck. She rubbed her face with one of her hands, trying desperately to rub the sleep from her eyes.

"Well, well, well, don't _you_ sound like you've just gotten fucked six ways from Sunday?" Issa grinned at the British accent that immediately came from across the phone and the grin that surely graced the same face.

"Bela, darling, what makes you call at . . ." She glanced at the clock sitting on the nearby nightstand and silently groaned. "Seven thirty in the fucking morning?" Bela laughed.

"Sorry, but I had to get up early for a job. I got some news for you though! I know where your Monkey's Paw is!" Issa visibly perked up then, although careful not to wake up Dean, who she knew from personal experience, could be very irritable when woken up earlier than he normally woke up.

"Where is it?"

"You won't believe it! _I _barely believed it myself!

"Bela, darling, where is it?" Issa asked more firmly.

"It's in the town you're in at this moment, in fact – at the home of a Ms. Veronica Gable. Newly widowed, she lives alone with her daughter, Molly. One day, Molly was playing out in the yard when she found this dried out, wrinkled Monkey's Paw."

"Gruesome find. Is it a coincidence, you think?" Issa asked but she could see Bela shaking her head.

"Ehh, I don't think so. You see the Monkey's Paw shifts to the family that the last owner was in last contact with before he made the third – and subsequent – final wish." Issa furrowed her eyebrows in slight confusion.

"Why would Sam have made last contact with them before making his final wish?"  
"I don't know darling, but that was all I could find at such short notice. Sorry it couldn't be more." She spoke, her tone apologetic, but Issa nodded.

"No, no, don't apologize, Bela. You've been extremely helpful so far honey. I've got to go, though, before I wake up Dean – call if you find anything else out. Yeah, bye, honey . . ." She hung up the phone then, her eyebrows still furrowed in slight confusion as she replaced the phone on her bedside table and lay there for a moment, sorting through her thoughts. She grinned, however, when she felt Dean's lips against the skin of her neck – the hot skin of her neck.

"Who were talking to?"

"Well good morning, sunshine!" Issa grinned, and Dean grinned back.

"I think I asked you a question . . ."

Issa continued to grin as she ran her fingers through his hair. "Bela, she knows where the Monkey's Paw is." She spoke and he nodded, impressed.

"Great! Where is it?" Issa then recounted everything that Bela had told her and when she was done, Dean was as confused as she was.

"Wow . . . what the Hell was Sam doing talking to her?" He asked as he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and moved to lean on his elbow beside her. Issa shrugged. Their legs were still hopelessly entwined and she grinned at the fact that Dean would not let her go until he was good and ready. He grinned too but waited patiently for her answer.

"Like I said, I don't know. The whole reason he was here was because his firm was representing a huge business client in a suit filed against them by a former employee. As far as I know, a woman fitting her description, was in no shape, fashion or form involved in the case!" Dean sighed then.

"Which means we should probably go hunt down this woman and figure out what the Hell her relationship is with Sam, right?" Issa nodded as Dean reached over to her to pick up his watch on the bedside table beside her cellphone. He looked at the time and immediately groaned out as he let go of the watch and collapsed on his back to the bed. She smiled a small, tight smile.

"Sorry, honey!" She spoke and Dean shook his head as he disentangled himself from her and got to his feet.

"Sorry doesn't cut it, Issa, its seven fifty in the fucking morning!"

* * *

"Are you serious?"

Jason shrugged from the backseat of the Impala. "Well . . . surely it's . . . maybe she's fallen on hard times!" He suggested weakly and Issa sighed.

"Yeah, I can see that . . . if those times were as hard as a landslide!" She muttered as the three of them exited the Impala. The piece of property standing before them wouldn't exactly be something a woman would be proud of. Nestled amidst almost knee-high grass and cheap looking children's toys, stood a single-wide trailer, all peeling paint and rusting metal. Dean grinned and laughed.

"Oh come on, Issa, be forgiving! Not many people can be married to a high-power lawyer, live in one of the most high-powered suburbs in Kansas and take vacations in fuckin' Aspen!" Jason's eyebrows furrowed in slight confusion.

"We never vacationed in Aspen!" He spoke and Issa shot him a look.

"Uncle Dean's being what he likes to call, 'sarcastic', again!" She told him and Dean shot her a mean look as Jason laughed. Together, they made their way up the weed overgrown walk to the front screen door of the trailer, where Dean rapped two knuckles on the tin frame. There was silence for a moment before they heard footfalls moving to the front door. _Guiding Light_ was playing on the TV across from the room and the door opened seconds later, revealing a tall, gaunt woman with lank, dirty blonde hair and tough, cold blue eyes. Dean smiled.

"Hi, I'm Agent Plant; these are my partners, Agents Ford and Rose. Are you Veronica Gable?" The woman nodded as her eyes flickered to Jason standing between them and reflexively, he lifted up his newly made FBI badge. She nodded to him.

"Little young to be an FBI agent, aren't ya?" She asked, her voice a tad lofty and Dean shrugged.

"You don't need to worry about him. He's the best out of the new batch." She sighed.

"What is this about?" She asked and Dean opened his mouth to speak but it was at that moment that Ms. Veronica Gable turned her eyes onto Issa. She froze then, her eyes growing wide with horror and awe.

"It's _you_! What in the Hell are you doin' here?" She demanded, and all three of them furrowed their eyebrows in confusion.

"Excuse me . . . do I know you?" Issa asked her in clear confusion, and Veronica sighed and pursed her lips then.

"I don't suspect you do. After all, I did fuck your husband. I don't think you would be the one he would tell that to, though."


	13. Chapter 12

**Sorry about the short chapter again. Hopefully they'll get longer soon.**

* * *

"We met one night, when I was workin' at the bar in town," Veronica spoke as she placed a cup of coffee before Issa. She then took a shaky seat in the chair across from her, placing her own cup of coffee before her. She shook her head. "He . . . I can't remember ever a good lookin' man walking through that door than Sam!" She laughed then as she looked down at her coffee. "I was immediately in love with him, I think . . ."

Issa bit down on her bottom lip and shared a look with Dean, who raised an eyebrow. Veronica shook her head. "He took me back to his hotel room and . . . we spent the night together. A month later, when he was gone, back to Kansas to you and your son, I figured out that I was pregnant with Molly."

"How old is she?" Dean asked, and Veronica swallowed hard and glanced at him.

"Three . . . she's three-years-old." She spoke, and Issa sucked in a sharp breath, immediately feeling tears prickling behind her eyes. Veronica turned a curious gaze onto her. "Are you . . . okay?" She asked, and Dean nodded hurriedly but he took Issa's hand underneath the table.

"Yeah, yeah, she fine. Did you . . . know anything about his life at all?" He asked, and she shook her head.

"He kept a lot from me. Of course, I knew the important things. I knew he had a wife and a son back in Kansas; I knew that he was a lawyer. I knew that I meant almost nothing to him and that we had absolutely no future together." She shrugged then. "But stupid me, I thought . . . I thought we _did_ have a future together. And then . . . and then he cut off contact with me a year ago, when she was two and . . . and reality finally hit me."

"Why did he cut off contact, do you know?" Jason asked, and Veronica turned her eyes onto him.

"You're his son, aren't you? You're Jason?" She asked him quietly, and Jason and Issa nodded as Issa put an arm around his shoulders and hugged him to her. Veronica's eyes softened. "You look just like him . . . spitting image almost." Jason smiled a small smile.

"Um, thank you. Uh . . ." He trailed off, at a loss for words, and Veronica swallowed heavily.

"He uh . . . he cut off contact because he said he was tired of leading a double life," Her eyes met Issa's then. "He said he loved you and that he didn't want to hurt you if you ever found out. The message was pretty clear; I got it."

From another room further in the trailer, came a child's irritated yell for her mother. Veronica sighed and got to her feet. "Excuse me; I'll be right back -"

"No, no, allow me to see to her!" Jason immediately interrupted her, and all three of the adults turned a curious gaze onto him.

"Are you sure . . .?" Veronica asked him, the look on her face screaming that she did not want to be around Issa anymore than she already had to, and Jason nodded.

"Yeah, it's no problem! I uh . . ." He grinned and laughed a little as he shrugged his shoulders. "I teach little league football. I'm kinda used to kids." He spoke with a small smile and Issa and Dean nodded confirmation, the entire time Dean admiring Jason for how quickly and easily he was growing to lie. Veronica nodded slowly and sunk back down into her seat as Jason smiled another small, comforting smile before walking down the hallway to Molly's room.

Veronica sighed and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "So . . . what brings you here? Did Sam finally tell you about me?" She asked, directly her question more towards Issa than Dean, and finally, Dean nodded.

"Yeah, he uh . . . he told both of us about you. He wanted us to make sure you were okay." He spoke and Veronica's eyebrows knitted together in concern as she straightened up in her chair. Issa noticed that it was _true _concern, the concern that she got when Jason broke his arm that one time when he was young and had fallen from a tree in the backyard. It was the same concern and fear that she felt deep in her stomach when she saw Sam/Lucifer fall down into the pit of Hell with Michael/Adam. It was the same concern one felt when they were worried about someone they loved, deeply.

"Is he alright?" She asked and Dean nodded and opened his mouth to speak, but Issa interrupted him.

"Well, we aren't sure. He's gone missing." She spoke and Veronica's face paled even more, if that was possible.

"He's missing? What do you mean he's 'missing'?" She asked and Issa shrugged.

"It's exactly as it sounds. He uh . . ." She released a deep breath. "He walked out on me. I can't reach him – Jason and Dean can't reach him too." Veronica nodded, her eyes adopting a deeply mistrustful, almost disgusted look on her face.

"So you thought he would be here, huh? You thought he would be here, in a fuckin' slag heap, in the arms of his fucking whore, right?" Issa immediately recoiled, a hurt look to her eyes.

"I never said that, Veronica, nor did I insinuate it!" She spoke as Jason came out of Molly's room but stopped in the hallway. Silently, he beckoned for Dean and Dean furrowed his eyebrows but quickly got the message. Clearing his throat, he gathered Veronica's attention.

"I'm sorry, but can I use your bathroom?" He asked, and Veronica nodded silently and pointed behind her.

"Sure; it's the second door on the right." She spoke, and Dean nodded as he stood and moved around her, joining Jason moments later. He left Veronica and Issa in a deeply awkward silence.

"Did you know that . . . you and Jason was all he ever talked about?" Veronica finally spoke, breaking the silence, and Issa furrow her eyebrows in confusion as she turned her gaze onto the woman sitting before her. The pale, fragile woman shook her head. "And when he would be on the phone with you, his voice . . . his voice would be so full of love and adoration and _worship _even!" She shook her head then and laughed a little. "Many times, I would stay awake long after he had left me and I would wonder, 'What does this woman have that I don't? What does she have that never fails to bring him running back to her at the snap of her fingers?'" She shrugged then and her eyes when they gazed at her were now cold – cold and as hard as flint. "And then I look at you now and the reason is as clear as day! You're beautiful in ways I could never hope to be . . . beautiful and exotic and intelligent and confident! And I . . ." She chuckled and shrugged then. "Well, let's just say, you were always his and he was always yours. There was no changing that and he made that abundantly clear."

They sat there for a moment, an awkward silence descending upon them before Veronica broke it again,

"You know, Molly asked me once why her daddy wasn't ever around for Christmas . . ."

"What did you tell her?" Issa asked quietly, and Veronica shrugged helplessly. A tear leaked out from underneath one closed eyelid and suddenly, Issa caught a glimpse into the life of this poor woman. She saw a woman, working her ass off at the local bar or Five-and-Dime, to provide for a daughter whose father didn't care. She saw a small Christmas dinner on the table, an even smaller tree and pile of presents tucked into a lonely corner. Then, she remembered her own Christmases since she married Sam: full of parties and laughing colleagues and friends, of food and good wine and soft music. They were of Sam, dressed in an impeccably tailored suit with her standing proud and smokily beautiful beside him as they talked and rubbed elbows with the next big thing in their town's politics; Jason often doing his own thing. She remembered the last few Christmases, the same great parties, the same great presents of Cartier diamonds and jewelry and expensive designer dresses and then the fabulous sex afterwards with one of the men she loved. She had all these great things – including one of the greatest love affairs of her very long life – while Sam's bastard daughter and her mother went almost hungry on Christmas.

She didn't know who she hated more at that moment: Sam, for treating Veronica and Molly this way for the past three years, or herself for treating Sam like shit with Dean behind his back this entire time.

"What could I tell her? I told her that he was with his other family like he was every year . . . like he would be _every year_!" Issa shook her head sadly, apologetically.

"I'm so sorry, Veronica -!"

"Why should you be sorry? Or more importantly – _what _do you have to be sorry for?" Veronica interrupted her, laughing a little. The look she gave her now was one of light shock. "You're his _wife_, Issa! You are entitled to everything he has ever accomplished in his life! You gave birth to his only son, you were the wind beneath his wings in his career and finally, you were the beautiful, warm, willing woman that he could have in his bed every night!" She shook her head then, bitterer than the entire time Issa had known her for these two short hours. "What was I to him, compared to you? You were his everything – his entire world, the apple of his eye! I . . . I was just a stupid, forgettable woman that he got pregnant after a one night stand and subsequently found himself shackled to!"

Issa, finding nothing to say to that, was intensely relieved to find Dean and Jason walking down the hallway to join them in the kitchen, Dean depositing something wrapped in a thin kerchief into the inside pocket of his suit jacket. He smiled a small smile in Issa's direction and she returned it.

"Is she okay?" Veronica asked Jason, who smiled soothingly and nodded.

"Yeah . . . yeah, she's fine. Her TV went out and she wanted someone to fix it. Don't worry, I handled it." He told her and she smiled a small smile of thanks as Dean glanced at Issa.

"We should probably go . . . got some work to do." He spoke, and Issa nodded as she stood from her chair, a little too quickly for her liking. Veronica watched them with eyes that held an emotion that, for once, Issa could not decipher.

"Yes . . . yes you probably should." She spoke in a voice that said they had ruined her entire week and Issa swallowed heavily as Jason smiled.

"Thank you for your cooperation in dad's disappearance." He spoke and she laughed a little and shrugged her shoulders weakly.

"Well you're welcome, but I don't know how much I contributed!" She spoke as she stood and followed them to the door. Dean and Jason left first and as Issa was leaving, Veronica's hand shot out and grabbed ahold of her upper arm. Issa whirled around, her Hunter training telling her to punch whomever in the face who dared to grab ahold of her, but reined herself back when she saw it was Veronica, carrying a pleading face.

"Please find him, Issa!" She begged her. "Find him, I . . ." She stopped herself and looked down at the ground then. Issa knew she wanted to say 'I love him' but didn't think it prudent with her standing there. Maybe it wasn't . . . Issa didn't know. Her day had been as bad as hers; there was no telling what she would do if her husband's ex. Mistress told her that she loved him.

Issa simply nodded. "Yeah . . . yeah, I plan on it, Veronica." She spoke quietly and Veronica swallowed heavily before reaching forward and pulling her into a hug. All three of them stunned, neither of them knew how to react, even when they shakily parted. Veronica bit down on her bottom lip before saying goodbye and closing the door. Issa stood there, numb, not knowing whether to be thankful that she was now out of that life, no matter how small the window was, or if she wanted to open the door and find out what else Sam had kept from her.

"Mom . . . mom, come on . . ." Jason urged her quietly, gently as he put a shaky hand around his mother's shoulders. It probably shocked him as much as her. Growing up, knowing your mother flirted with your uncle and that they had, had a previous affair, helped to damper the shock when they started another one, was nothing in comparison to the shock he received upon finding out that his previously thought 'innocent' father, was having an affair of his own.

With much gentle prodding, Jason finally ushered her over to the Impala enough to where he could open the door and allow her to sit down. He and Dean entered the car seconds later and Issa glanced at Dean. "Do you have it?" She asked, and he nodded as he reached into his suit jacket pocket and withdrew the wrapped object.

"Yeah, it's a dried out monkey's paw, alright!" He spoke and Issa nodded.

"Good. Now let's give it to Crowley and get Sam back."

"Are you sure we just want to . . . _give it _to Crowley, mom?" Jason asked her, and Issa closed her eyes and fought with all her strength to hold back her tears.

"Quite frankly, I don't care what happens after, because _I_ don't have to deal with whatever shitstorm will be released! Once we have Sam back, we are going back to our normal life because I am _tired _of not having my old life back!" She shook her head then and a few tears slid down her cheeks. "This entire thing has been heartbreak after heartbreak and _now_, I figure out from _another woman_ that my fucking husband conceived a child with trailer park trash when I _fucking couldn't_!" She let out a sob then and Dean swallowed heavily.

"Issa, I . . . I'm sorry!" He spoke quietly, and Jason nodded in agreement as he placed a comforting hand on his mother's shoulder.

"Yeah mom, I . . . I didn't know you felt this way!" He spoke and Issa shook her head then.

"I just want my old life back, baby – for all of us! Is that too much to fucking ask?"


	14. Chapter 13

**Okay, here is officially the chapter that Sam is found! I, for one, am really happy about how I wrote this chapter and there is a lemon is but its a Sam/Issa lemon. Enjoy :)**

**P.S - I have no idea how to tackle the whole "Crowley" issue after this chapter, so if you got any suggestions, feel free to PM or review it to me :)**

**- Nagiana**

* * *

"You called, sweetheart?"

Issa gritted her teeth and turned around, only for her eyes to harden when she set them upon Crowley. They were standing in the same warehouse that they had met in previously, but unlike previously, Jason and Dean were absent. The demon had a wary look in his eyes as he gazed at her and she fought to hold back a snorting laugh. "Looks like my son did you a number!" She spoke, eyeing the burned right side of his face, and Crowley let out a sound of disgust as he rolled his eyes.

"I must say, I underestimated the little shit!" He glanced at her then, his eyebrows rising in interest. "Has he always been that powerful?" Issa shrugged.

"I don't know. We just recently found out he had them!" He spoke and he nodded before turning his full gaze upon her and changing the subject.

"You have something for me?" He asked, and Issa nodded as she reached into her leather coat and withdrew the shriveled monkey's paw wrapped in a white handkerchief. She threw it to him and he caught it with expert deftness. After peeking into the handkerchief, he nodded with satisfaction and tucked it into his inside suit pocket. "Where did you get it?"

"I think you know where."

Crowley let out a short laugh. "It was with his mistress? I knew it . . ."

"Then why did you make me go find me when you knew where it was?" She asked tersely. "Why did you make me meet her?"

"Because . . . because despite everything – your power as an ex. Archangel, your stubbornness and your penchant for birthing extremely annoying half-Angels, I like you. Your real – you don't lie, you don't mince things. You deserved to know that you weren't the only guilty party in your marriage." Issa shook her head.

"Where is he Crowley?" She asked and Crowley gazed at her like she had suddenly grown two heads.

"Why do you want him back so badly? You have everything now! Your relationship with Jason is back on track, you have Dean – you love him and he loves you back! Why would you sacrifice all of that for a man who didn't even stay loyal to his marriage? At least Dean stayed true in his heart and mind!"

"Well see, I could argue the same thing about Sam!" She replied coldly as she crossed her arms in front of her chest. "You didn't hear what Veronica told me; how he kept things from her, how he never treated her with the same amount of love and adoration as he did me. Actually, I'm not sure he even loved her to begin with!"

"You are in a shocking amount of denial! I take back everything I just said about liking you!" Crowley spoke in slight awe, and Issa furrowed her eyebrows in shock.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm just saying! What woman in her right mind would ever take back a man who had even _thought _of being unfaithful to her?"

"It happened one time, three years ago."

"If it happened once, it could damn well happen again," His eyes glinted mischievously then in the light. "You know, as payback, we really should fuck sometime! After all, you have fucked almost every Archangel in existence, including some that weren't! And, hey, if it does get bad, then just close your eyes and pretend that I'm your beloved Lucifer chowing down on your naughty bits. I hear he's quite good at that -!"

"Cut through the shit and just tell me where the fuck he is, Crowley!" She interrupted him angrily and through gritted teeth, her eyes flashing in the light, and he tsked before he sighed and rolled his eyes again as he buried his hands in his pockets. "Fine, you win – _partly_!" He gestured to the floor underneath their feet. "He's two floors below us. Have fun though . . . I certainly did!"

Issa furrowed her eyebrows in confusion and opened her mouth to speak but when she blinked, Crowley was gone. The warehouse descended into an eerie silence and before the thought could even cross her mind that she should most likely call Dean and Jason, she took off at a run for the service elevator. Practically punching the button, her heart was racing as the service elevator rose to her floor and she was in tears by the time she was on it and practically punching at the basement button.

With water dripping from the broken pipes and rats scurrying in the corridors, Issa ran, full-throttle down the corridors, her booted feet clunking on the floor and her screaming sobs of Sam's name ripping forth from her throat. She turned down one corridor (by God, how big was this basement?) and shouted his name again. Her heart felt like breaking but quickly mended itself when she heard her name being called back. Following her name like a mantra, she sought Sam by a twisted game of Marco Polo, until finally she turned a corner and saw him. Chained from the wall and bleeding from a crisscrossing of lashes across his back and chest, he gazed at her in horror and slight wariness. Lying before him, her chest ripped out, was a Siren.

"Sam . . . Sam, oh my God . . . baby!" She murmured in horror as she darted to the chains. Clawing them open, he fell to the ground with a grunt of pain and she kneeled down beside him seconds later, one of her hands on his back while the other one helped him to his knees.

"Issa . . . Issa, is that really you . . .?" He asked and Issa nodded.

"Baby, why wouldn't it be me . . .?"

"You . . . you . . ." His gaze darted to the Siren lying before them and it was then that everything dawned on Issa. Shaking her head, she helped him to his feet.

"There's no time, Sam, we have to get you out of here! Dean and Jason are back at the hotel -!"

"Dean and Jason are here?" He asked weakly and Issa nodded as she grabbed his arm and wrapped it around her shoulders. Her arm wrapping around his waist, she helped him slowly to the elevator.

"Yeah, all three of us were trying to find you." She spoke and he nodded, swallowing heavily.

"Good . . . that's good . . ." Glancing down at her as she punched the button of the elevator, he focused on settling himself on his feet. "Issa . . . oh God, baby, thank God your here!" He whispered and she swallowed heavily too as she turned her eyes up to his. She never realized it before, but Veronica's words rang true. He gazed at her with adoration, love and above all, worship and that alone, made tears appeared in her eyes.

* * *

"But I don't understand, Jason, where could she be?" Dean asked for the one millionth time as he continued to pace their hotel room. Jason shrugged for the one millionth time as he sat down on the edge of the hotel bed and turned his eyes up to his uncle. "For God's sake, she even took my baby!" He spat bitterly as his ran his fingers through his hair. Jason opened his mouth to say something but he was interrupted by the hotel room door suddenly thrown open. It revealed Issa on the threshold supporting none other than . . . Sam.

"Sam!"

"Dad, is that you?"

Jason and Dean gazed at them in shock but Issa threw them each a mean glance when they crowded around them. "Back the fuck off, he needs the bed!" She snapped and immediately, the two men backed off as Issa hurried as fast as she could to the nearest bed, where she gently helped him sit down on it, conscious of the still bloody lashes on his chest and back. Flying over to him and settling on her knees before him, her hands framed his face as she looked worriedly into his eyes before she proceeded to feel his head and began check his wounds.

"One of you, get me the First Aid Kit in the bathroom!" She snapped over her shoulder and Jason nodded hurriedly as he moved back into the bathroom and shuffled around under the counter for the white or red First Aid Kit. Dean watched with a wary eye, the way she flitted around Sam like a clucking mother hen – like a wife who cared and was worried about her husband.

"Here mom, I've found it!" Jason spoke as he crossed the room towards her and handed her the First Aid Kit. She nodded and smiled weakly at him.

"Thank you baby - now give us some privacy, please? I'm sure your father wants to rest and I need to tend to his wounds" She asked them and Jason nodded as he glanced at Dean. Dean gazed at her pointedly for a moment before nodding himself.

"Yeah . . . yeah, of course we will. We'll be in my hotel room if you need us . . ." He spoke before he herded Jason to the connecting door. Shooting Issa one more glance over his shoulder, he and Jason entered the hotel room seconds later, closing the door behind them and leaving Sam and Issa alone together for the first time in months.

"Oh God, Sam . . .!" She murmured again as she framed his face with her hands and allowed the tears to come freely to her eyes. He held her as close to him as he dared with his wounds and they stayed like that for a moment, Sam holding her as she cried and sobbed. Sam's arms felt so protective – so warm and wonderful. She knew they would have to deal with a lot of things in the weeks to come but just for right now, they were reunited again and Issa never felt more complete.

"Issa . . . Issa could you maybe do something . . .?" He asked, laughing a little as she moved back onto her heels and nodded as she wiped the blood from her eyes.

"How um . . . how bad are you?" She asked and he sighed.

"Help me to my feet . . ." He grunted and knitting her eyebrows together in confusion, she got to her feet and helped him to hers. "Now help me undress . . ."

"Sam, I really don't think -!"

"Get your mind out of the gutter, babe, I just need to get down to my briefs!" He laughed, even though it pained him, and she nodded, blushing slightly as she undid his belt and then the button and fly to his jeans. Even more tears appeared in her eyes as she helped undress him and as her eyes feasted on the lashes that covered his legs as well. Some even looked in the beginning stages of infection. Oh God . . . she would _kill _Crowley if she ever got her hands on his slimeball neck!

"Baby, I don't know what I can do!" She murmured tearfully as she shook her head. "I don't -!"

"Come on, Issa, you gotta do something!" He spoke and she nodded and swallowed heavily as she guided him back to sitting on the edge of the bed and opened the First Aid Kit. There was only a small bottle of disinfectant and Aquaphor, a bottle of Tylenol and a small piling of gauze pads. Shakily, she picked up her cellphone and dialed Dean's number. He picked up seconds later.

"Dean . . .? Yeah, I'm going to need you to run to the drugstore or if you can, to the nearest Hospital storage room!"

* * *

"Okay . . . that should do it . . ." Issa spoke in a choked voice as she replaced everything in either the First Aid Kit or the bright red Biohazard bags that Dean had nabbed from one of the Hospital storerooms he had come back from. Sam's almost entire body was wrapped in gauze, almost like a mummy and her eyes were tear-stained and puffy from when she had cried as she had dressed his wounds. Guilt lanced through her with every pained grunt and cry from Sam because of how she had slept with Dean and although she knew Sam was not completely innocent too, that did little to take the pain and guilt away.

She just wanted things to go back to normal!

"You did good baby . . ." He smiled wryly and she returned his smile as she took his hand and shook two oxycodone into it from the bottle in her hand.

"Here, this should help with the pain . . ." She spoke quietly as she picked up the cup of water from the nearby bedside table and handed it to him. He downed the pills and the water in one smooth motion before he held the cup out to her again.

"Can I get some more water? My throat is dry . . ." He smiled and Issa wondered at that smile for a minute before she realized that, that was the very same line she had spoken to him the morning after she had Fallen. She looked down for a moment before nodding and taking the cup.

"Yeah . . . yeah, of course you can, just let me go get it . . ." She spoke as she stood and moved over to the bathroom sink, where she filled it up. She was tired and she was cold. All she wanted to do was go sleep!

She returned to him with the cup of water and handed it to him. He took it, their fingers brushing and she immediately felt the spark of powerful warmth that spread up through her fingers. She recoiled slightly, her hand moving mechanically back to her side. She hadn't thought about the warmth she needed for _months_ now. She supposed Dean gave her just enough to keep it pleasantly ignorable, but now that she was with Sam again, the warmth came flooding back in a way that only her Bondmate could give her.

Sam slowly lowered the plastic cup of water and Issa sighed as she lowered her eyes to the floor, trying to beat back the wave of warmth that spiked throughout her body. "I should uh. . . probably go tell Jason and Dean that you're fine. You should probably get some rest . . ." She muttered but Sam's hand shot out and grabbed hers. Heat spiked upwards from her fingers again and she swallowed hard.

"Don't tell me you don't feel that . . ." He whispered. "For God's sake Issa, your almost as cold as the grave! How did you survive this long?"

Issa wordlessly shook her head and shrugged weakly. "I'm . . . Jason helped," She spoke quickly. "He's your son – we created him together – it makes sense that he could have some juice in him. Its . . ." She shrugged again. "Hugging him helped but let's just say that with all the hugs he got from me over the months, he probably thought I was deranged half the time!"

Sam grinned and laughed as he pulled her closer to him, his hand smoothing over her waist. Even through the cloth of her shirt, she could feel the warmth of his hand against her skin . . . warm and protective and relaxing. Reluctantly, she stepped closer to him and when he pulled her down to him, their lips connecting seconds later in a deep, passionate kiss, she knew Dean and Jason would have to wait until the next day to know whether he was alright.

"We shouldn't be doing this . . . your hurt for God's sake!" She whispered when they broke apart for air, and Sam nodded as the two of them quickly and silently undressed her.

"I know, so we'll just have to be careful . . ." He whispered back as he pulled Issa down onto his lap. She was straddling him, her bronze body illuminated in the dull light of the hotel room's lamps on the walls above the beds, and Sam's breath caught in his throat as he gazed up at her – at the near perfect body that now straddled him. For so long he had thought he had lost her – that he would never see her again. Now that he was, he could hardly believe his eyes!

Their tongues fought for dominance as strong hands cupped her ass and lifted her up slightly, her stomach entering free-fall mode milliseconds later. Issa moaned then as he entered her - as warmth shot throughout her body from her center, like the roots of a tree anchoring in the earth and it felt amazing – beyond amazing, even! Her breath caught in her throat and she whimpered his name as he rocked her hips against his. His lips fell onto her neck, better for him to run his teeth and lips over her collarbone and the pulse point of her neck which earned another tiny whimper from her. He knew every spot on her body that could turn her into goop in his hands and even after fifteen years of marriage and untold torture at both Lucifer and Crowley's hands, he still knew every one of them.

Sam was clearly experienced, but it was obvious that he had never been with anyone like Issa – and that he never would be. The sheer pleasure and animal-like passion that she induced when they made love was almost inhuman. A Gate to Hell could have opened right underneath him, and he would never have noticed it as long as she continued rocking so deliciously against him.

The cool air around them was the only witness to their low moans and gasps of pleasure; the cool air conditioned air was the only thing that kissed the beading sweat on their skin, and their hands smoothed over each other's body, the smooth, rippling muscles of Sam's bronze chest and arms, the suppleness of Issa's skin, the fullness of her breasts. . .

Her feet planted on the bed behind him, her hands falling onto his knees behind her as his mouth descended onto her nipple, his hands moving behind her back and sinking into the wealth of ebony curls falling from her head as her hips rocked against his. It felt so good to feel her again after he had been stuck in that Hell for what seemed like an eternity. He had dreamed about this moment for months.

After what seemed like an eternity of stilled pleasure, Issa reached a blinding climax, warmth exploding throughout her body like it hadn't in months. Sam gripped her close as he released inside of her and Issa bit down hard onto her lip as she let out an accompanied moan and squeezed her eyes shut with the pleasure and warmth, her head falling back against her shoulders. Both of them were oblivious to any attention they might have drawn from the hotel room next door and when her breath had been sufficiently caught, she got off of him and collapsed onto the bed beside him, Sam descending gingerly onto his side seconds later. His side was the only place he could lay on without pain lancing throughout his body. He also thought the super behind-the-counter painkillers helped too.

Sam watched as she picked up her phone and texted Jason that he was fine – that they would meet in the morning. She didn't text Dean because she didn't want to face him at the moment. That issue was one Hell of a can of worms – a can of worms she didn't know if she had the strength to contend with. When she set the phone aside, he smiled and took her into his arms, where he kissed her deeply and passionately, his tongue filling her mouth again as his hands ran deeply into her hair. It said everything that he felt – his happiness as being back; at being with her and knowing she and Jason were safe. It brought tears to her eyes again. She had him back . . . she finally had him back and now, maybe things could go back to normal!


	15. Chapter 14

**Okay, here is the chapter that you all have been waiting for with bated breath: The chapter that Issa confronts Sam about his infidelities and also a little bit more in this explosive chapter. I hope you all enjoy and that you have a box of tissues handy, because it does get quite poignant towards the end :)**

**Oh yeah, sorry I left it at a cliffhanger, but unfortunately, I have no idea what I'm going to do regarding this! I still haven't figured out what to do with Crowley, whether I should leave him at that or handle him or what and as for this . . . well, I'll have to think about it. Of course, if you guys have any ideas or suggestions, you know what to do :)**

**Enjoy!**

**- Nagiana**

* * *

"Hey . . ."

Dean turned around from his spot on the hood of the Impala and smiled weakly when he saw Sam quietly leave the hotel room he had spent the night in with Issa, for the world outside. He had slept soundly for the first time since he had been taken by Crowley and upon waking up that morning, he felt refreshed and loads better. Granted, it was painful to walk and he was slightly stiff, but his wounds felt a lot less infected and a lot more on the mending side.

"Hey, how you doing, man?" Dean asked, and Sam cracked a half smile and shrugged as he gingerly rolled his shoulder.

"Stiff and I hurt like a son of a bitch, but I think I'll live . . ."

"Still got your soul?"

Sam shot him a look. "Oh ha, ha, you're so funny!" He grinned as he crossed the distance between them and took a seat next to him on the hood. He had awaken that morning to find Issa sleeping soundly beside him, tucked securely in his arms, her back to his front. They hadn't slept that way in months . . . years even. It felt good.

Silently and gently, he had slid his arm out from underneath her head and got up from the bed then, where he dressed silently as well, careful not to wake her. It was still too early in the morning for Issa and Jason to be up – slightly chilly as well - but he knew Dean. Dean would be awake.

"So . . . did Issa take care of you alright?" Dean asked and Sam laughed a little as he nodded. It would take an idiot to not see the slight jealously that flickered in his older brother's eyes at the thought that they had slept together last night . . . that Issa had come undone in his arms, moaning his name as he gave her the warmth she had craved for months - the warmth that Dean couldn't hope to give her - and that for once, in months, it had been Sam's name on her tongue and not Dean's.

"Yeah, she did. She's quite the little nurse, I must say!" Dean cracked a half grin at that and chuckled.

"Yeah, well, she patched up a fair amount of our scrapes and bruises when we were hunting didn't she? Hell, I think Cass still has that scar on his ass that she had to sow up!" Sam nodded and laughed a little as he shrugged.

"Yeah, but remember that half of those times she still had her angelic healing abilities! Yesterday she went entirely off of antibiotics and gauze and other good, mortal human stuff like that . . ." He shrugged again. "I'm proud of her!" Dean nodded.

"I would be too . . ." He muttered and they descended into an awkward silence then, one that was only broken by Sam laughing and turning to face Dean.

"While I was gone . . . did you fuck her?"

Eyes widening in shock at his blatant question, Dean turned to gaze at younger brother, a stricken look on his face and not knowing what exactly to say. Sam grinned and looked down at the asphalt underneath their feet when he saw that look. "I take that as a yes, then!"

Dean sighed. "Sam, you were gone for a long time. I stepped in to help, that was all!" He spoke, and Sam laughed again as he brought up his head.

"Yeah, I would have expected that from you. Actually, I would be pissed if you didn't! But how long did it take before you two were fucking again?" He asked him, his tone growing colder. "How long did she wait for me, in case I ever came back?" His eyes were hard as well, and Dean's jaw clenched in irritation and slight anger.

"She waited a month, Sam. She waited a full-blown month – until, financially, she could not afford to wait any longer for you. When she couldn't, I stepped in. I stepped in because I felt it was my duty . . . because I love them like they were my own!"

"Yeah, Dean, but they're not yours. They're mine!" Sam told him, his voice still hard and growing harder. "_She's_ my wife, and _he's_ my son – _not_ yours!" He laughed then, coldly. "But of course, you've never been able to handle that, have you? You've never been able to accept, that in the end - at the end of the day, when the dust finally settled down, that she chose me over you! You've never been able to accept that, that was the reason why you and Cassie never worked out – why you and Travis never had a real father-son relationship. Cassie got tired of playing second fiddle to my wife, and Travis got tired of doing the same with Jason!"

Dean wanted to punch him. He wanted to punch him until the lights behind his eyes disappeared but he knew he couldn't. Despite everything, Issa loved him and whether he wanted to admit it or not, Dean loved her. She loved Sam so much and she would hate his guts if he punched him and didn't stop. Dean wouldn't be able to handle that.

Sam grinned then. "Of course, I don't blame you! She's amazing isn't she? I thought I would never hear her tell me she loved me again but when she did last night . . . oh God, my heart felt like it would stop beating! Of course, she probably said the same to you, didn't she?" Dean glanced at him.

"What is with you?" He asked and Sam grinned and laughed.

"You have to honestly ask that question?!" He shook his head. "You fucked my wife Dean! You fucked her and fucked you back! Excuse me, but I do believe my mind is blown by the realization!"

"You guys okay?"

Both Dean and Sam's hearts lifted at the sound of the angelic voice that came behind them and they both turned around, Sam grinning and Dean adverting his eyes away when they saw Issa standing in the doorway of the hotel room, wearing one of Sam's button-up shirts and looking oh-so beautiful with a morning-after glow and her ebony hair soft and silky in the bright morning sunlight.

"Yeah, we've fine, baby! I'll be in, in a minute!" Sam told her and she smiled and nodded.

"You okay Dean . . .?" She asked slowly and he nodded and gave her a tight smile.

"Yeah, I'm fine Issa . . ." He spoke and she nodded again as she ducked back into the hotel room leaving the door slightly cracked so that Sam could get back in. The two brothers dissolved back into a hard silence, one that was only punctuated by Sam letting out a sigh.

"Look, Dean, I . . ." He trailed off then, not really knowing what to say now that his anger had cooled. "I guess, I . . . I realize why you did it. You thought I was dead, you . . . couldn't bare to see Issa cold and Jason detached from the world," He shrugged. "I just wish you had a little bit more inhibitions with it, that's all!" Dean scoffed.

"Me - inhibitions?" He laughed then, uproariously. "You want to talk to _me _about inhibitions? Sam, buddy, I wasn't the one with the trailer park trash mistress behind my wife's back!" Sam face blanched.

"You . . . you know about Veronica and Molly?" Dean laughed.

"Know about them? Sam, we _met _them! Hell, they had the ticket to getting you away from Crowley!"

"So, Issa and Jason, they . . .?"

"Yeah, they met them," Dean laughed. "I must say, Sammy, your taste in women outside of Issa, _sucks_! I hope to Hell Jason takes after me and not you!" Sam looked away, his fingers sliding over his lips.

"I never meant for her to figure out this – Jason either! I never meant for them to . . ." He shrugged then and Dean shrugged too.

"You know, you shouldn't be trying to convince me about any of this, Sam! I'm not the one you need to be convincing right now! Issa in there, she's gonna bring it up eventually and she's going to be a lot less forgiving than I am! One night of fabulous sex is not going to heal your marriage, Sammy!" He shook his head then. "Hell, the dollhouse was already falling down when I got there!" Sam gazed at him for a moment before nodding.

"Yeah . . . yeah, you're right . . ." He agreed before he moved off in the direction of the hotel room, Dean following him with interested eyes.

"Scream if you need help! Although . . ." He shrugged then. "I'm probably not gonna be too keen to get in-between you guys to break you up! Issa can throw a punch like a damn man!"

Sam ignored him as he entered the hotel room seconds later, his heart thumping in his throat. This was it, was it?

Issa turned around when she saw him and she smiled. "Hey baby, how are you feeling?" Sam nodded, smiling lovingly.

"Yeah, I'm feeling better – thanks for asking and thank for you know . . . taking care of me last night . . . in _every_ way. . ." He spoke, laughing a little, and Issa smiled shyly as she looked down at the floor underneath their feet. She crossed her arms in front of her chest, feeling blush burn her cheeks. Since when did Issa feel shy?

"Don't mention it. I'm your wife; I _should _do that stuff for you without question! And besides, I enjoyed it . . ."

"But Issa, I haven't . . ." He sighed then in defeat, his features softening. "I don't deserve all that!" Issa turned her gaze up to his for a moment, her features expressionless.

"You're talking about Veronica and Molly right?" She asked and he nodded slowly, his features pained.

"Issa, please, let me explain -!"

"Don't really know what there is to explain, Sam!" She laughed a little, interrupting him. Her posture was rigid and tense as she followed a grain of wood in the nearby table with the tip of her manicured fingernail. She shrugged then, letting out a bark of a laugh. "You fucked Veronica – you got her pregnant and then you abandoned her!" Her eyes were hard now. "Kinda makes me question the morals of the man I married, now does it?" Sam's jaw tensed.

"Issa -!"

"Tell me, Sam, what did it feel like when you were fucking her?" She asked, interrupting him. She swallowed hard and he could sense the tears that threatened to well up in her eyes although she did a pretty good job with keeping them back. Her anger kept them back "Did it feel good – oh wait, of course it did, or else she never would have become pregnant!" She laughed then, grinning, as she continued. "But did it at least make you feel a tad bit guilty – like you were doing something wrong? That's at least, what I hope, other men would feel -!"

"Oh like Dean?" It was his turn to interrupt her, his eyes growing hard as well and her jaw tensed as she nodded.

"Yeah . . . like Dean."

Sam laughed. "You know, I am _sick _of being constantly compared to Dean!" He spoke and Issa let out a bark of a laugh.

"Oh that's rich! When have I ever compared to you to Dean -!"

"That day at the doctor's office, you compared me to him!" Sam interrupted her harshly; his eyes alight with fiery anger. He knew this conversation, one he hoped they could have civilly and calmly, was fastly growing out of hand, but quite frankly, he didn't care. "The day that we learned that Jason was basically a miracle – that we would _never _have children together, you compared me to him - although you did it without realizing it! You were depressed and you were hurting and I passed it off as that at the time, but now that I think about it, you throwing the fact in my face that you and Dean always had no trouble conceiving in your past lives. It always made my teeth grind together in anger and hatred! It made me feel impotent – like I wasn't _shit _compared to him - the man with the golden balls!"

"So is that why you went off to that little white-trash Veronica, huh?" Issa asked, her voice laced with venom and her eyes blazing with anger. "Is that why you decided to let yourself go off your chain a little and stick it to me by sticking your dick in someone else?!" Sam felt a flare of rage go off in his stomach at her cruel, biting words.

"You know what I did here ten years ago – do you know what I did to save our marriage? _Do you know what I fuckin' did_?!" He roared as he angrily swiped a pile of books off the nearby table and to the floor. Issa jumped and her eyes widened but she held her ground beneath his fiery gaze. "Do you know that that deal I made with that Crossroads Demon ten years ago here was in order to get you pregnant with our daughter for ten years of my life because _quite clearly _just having sex wasn't doing it? When you did, I was so happy too – _finally_, our marriage was safe – we could go back to the way things were before everything turned to shit in my hands! And then . . . then, you had that miscarriage – that _bloody fucking_ miscarriage on the floor of our goddamn bathroom because you couldn't stay out of those fucking heels of yours, and suddenly, my plan goes all to Hell! It made me feel like shit for five damn weeks afterwards, too!" He laughed then, a cruel laugh. "Actually, Issa, Veronica saved me from myself back then - saved me from putting a bullet in my head so that the Hellhounds wouldn't have the pleasure of draggine me to Hell, kicking and screaming! She saved me from myself and when she found out that she was pregnant with Molly, I . . . I felt so happy! I felt _elated, _even! _Finally _I was going to have a daughter!"

Issa gazed at him all the while, tears welling up in her eyes, not believing what she was hearing from him. He blamed _her _for the miscarriage that had robbed them of their baby daughter – the daughter that they had both craved and wanted so badly? It felt like his words were like shards of glass that were wiggling their way into her heart, causing it to ache like it never had before.

"I did so much to save us, and here you are, _fucking_ my brother, turning _my own son_ against me! Do you know what I . . . do you know what I can do now, Issa – what I'm capable of?" He continued to roar at her and with tears in her eyes, she laughed wildly.

"You really think that you have the right to stand there and berate _me_ over the choices I've made these past few months?!" She screamed back at him, his words a sharp, stinging pain in her heart that got worse and worse the more she stood there before him. Her _daughter_ had been part of a deal? The little girl that she would have had – _Sam's_ daughter, that she had wanted more than anything else in the world – the daughter that she had buried out in the back yard in a goddamn shoe box, was just part of a _deal_? She felt sick . . . she felt so sick . . .

For a moment, Sam recoiled, looking shocked. Tears streamed freely down her eyes then and for a moment, she looked so hurt – so wounded – that Sam wanted to cry himself.

"I know how much you wanted a child back then, Sam - _believe me_, I knew! But how do you think I felt when I met Veronica and Molly . . . how do you think I felt at knowing that I _couldn't_ get pregnant so you went off and got another woman pregnant instead, out of _spite_?!" She shook her head then and closed her eyes as her body was wracked with sobs. "I wanted a child so very much, Sam, you know that! I wanted a child – _your _child, Sam! - so much so that _it hurt_! I didn't want Dean's! I didn't want Lucifer's or Michael's or whoever else your sick mind told you I did! I wanted _yours_, Sam, because I loved you! I wanted your baby so much that it hurt to the point to where I couldn't go by the baby section in _Wal-Mart_ without crying – I couldn't see mothers with newborns without sobbing my eyes out when I got in the car!" She shook her head. "I would have tried anything to get pregnant, Sam – _you know that_!"

Knees shaking, she finally collapsed into a nearby chair then, sobs ripping forth from her throat with such a force that his heart felt like breaking. "And when I finally got pregnant after months of fruitlessly trying, I was so happy! Finally, I was going to be a mother again – a mother to _your _child! And when I had that miscarriage, I . . . I felt my whole life - my whole future - rush out from between my legs along with all that blood and water!"

Swallowing hard and eyes glistening with tears as well, Sam slowly moved over to her, where he bent down before her. Trembling, he framed her face with his hands and gazed deeply into her eyes, showing her that she wasn't the only one hurting.

"How do you think I felt, Issa, when I couldn't touch you when you cried and sobbed because you would shy away from me like I was a shapeshifter wearing my skin? How do you think it made me feel, sitting in the living room with Jason downstairs and watch Cass or Balthasar or Julie walk calmly _up_ the stairs, knowing that they could touch you and hold you and comfort you – and _I couldn't_!" He shook his head as a tear slid down his cheek. "I made that deal with that Demon, Issa, not because I wanted to spite you, but because I _loved_ you! I didn't want to see you in pain and I-I did the only thing that made sense to me at the time! For God's sake, Issa, I would have done _anything _to stop your pain! I would have done _anything_ to give you the baby you wanted so much!"

He wrapped his arms around her waist and buried his face in her lap, tears sliding down his cheeks, body trembling. "I left Veronica and Molly because around the time, we were doing so well – we were finally repairing our marriage, getting our family back on track! There was that Christmas party that one year – the mind-blowing night we had together that night . . .! I was _so happy _when you let me back into our bed that night – back into your heart! I didn't want anything like them to hold me back – to hold us back! Issa, I never meant to hurt you, please believe me!"

Issa didn't know what to do. She honestly didn't. She wanted so badly to comfort him, to take the big lug in her arms and kiss away his tears and tell him that she forgave him and that everything was fine before they made sweet love on the bed behind them. But every time she thought of that, she imagined Veronica and Molly – poor, threadbare Veronica and Molly and every time, anger would flare up in her heart. She was still Angel enough to feel rage at that – still Angel enough to know that, that was wrong.

Shaking, her hands reached out to him . . .


	16. Chapter 15

**Okay, I'm really sorry I haven't updated in a while but I was having a hard time tying this chapter together and I've also been really focused on my own original work lately. I'm working on a current novel that I plan on sending to a publisher soon so, again, I'm sorry, but I have some pretty good excuses :)**

**Hope you enjoy this chapter, God knows I spent a lot deciding on how to end it. Next chapter is the epilogue so I'll see you then :)**

**Enjoy!**

**- Nagiana!**

**PS, there is a lemon in this chapter at the end but compared to my other ones, its relatively minor :)**

* * *

The slap, when it hit Sam's cheek with a sharp crack, was harder than anything Lucifer or Crowley could ever have dealt him. His head snapped unforgivingly to the side and he tasted the blood that immediately flooded his mouth and which coated his teeth like oil, but no other slap came after that. Instead, he felt Issa moved past him with a swiftness that temporarily shocked him. She bent down and pick up her jeans off of the floor, where she harshly yanked them on.

"Issa, baby, I'm -!"

"Don't you fucking talk to me right now!" She snapped at him while blinking back bitter tears and Sam gazed at her helplessly as she pulled the jeans up her lean legs, zipping and buttoning them seconds later.

"Issa, please, won't you listen -?"

"You know what the difference is between you and me, Sam, other than the obvious background?" She suddenly demanded of him angrily, interrupting him mid-sentence as she stopped getting dressed. Tears flowed down from her cheeks and she swallowed heavily, gathering her thoughts for a moment. "Yes, I have cheated on you, but at least I stayed faithful to you while you were still here – before Crowley took you and my life went to a Hell you cannot possibly begin to imagine!" She shook her head, a look of hurt in her eyes. "You, however, you were selfish enough to cheat on us – our marriage, when you knew good and well that I could have found out! At least I had the courtesy to think you were dead first!"

She shook her head then and opened the door then, pausing when it was open. She turned back and opened her mouth to say something but shook her head instead and left the room, closing the door behind her. Sam was glad she didn't speak what was on her mind and just left instead. He knew that it would be particularly nasty and he didn't think he could handle it after that slap.

With tears streaming down her cheeks, she began walking away from the hotel, towards the parking lot. She walked towards the sleek black Impala and the man who sat on its hood fiddling around with one of his cellphones, oblivious to her marching towards him. She walked, not caring where her feet took her. She walked past Jason coming out of the hotel room he had shared with Dean the previous night, who gave her a slightly wary look, one that she returned with a look of reassurance. She then walked past Dean, whose look of worry was clearly outlined on his handsome features.

"Issa, what's wrong?" He asked as he immediately got to his feet, his body tense. She smiled and shook her head as she placed a reassuring hand on Dean's chest.

"Nothing . . . well, everything . . ." She finally admitted with a roll of her eyes, but then sighed and smiled a small smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "I just – I need to be alone right now Dean, okay? I'll be back soon, I promise, so don't worry about me!" Dean nodded slowly as she continued on her way and he resumed his seat on the hood of the car. She felt his eyes on her, felt his worry at how she was acting, but she didn't need him right now. She didn't want Dean, to who - to a certain extent – had and felt a certain brotherly loyalty towards Sam. She didn't want Sam for obvious reasons and she didn't want Jason either because of his still clear loyalties to his father. Castiel was also out of the running for his blatant loyalties to Sam and Dean too as well as her, which would place him on really awkward neutral ground. She wanted someone who would be completely on her side for once – who hated Dean and Sam both with a fiery passion and would be much more of an older brother wanting to beat the shit out of the man who hurt his little sister, than a neutral family friend.

She wanted Balthazar.

She stopped walking when she entered the woods and a subsequent clearing minutes later, feeling her arms wrap around herself in a hug. Swallowing hard she shouted out Balthazar's name and waited for a few seconds before she shouted his name again. After three shouts of his name, he appeared with an intensely irritated look on his face.

"Issa, love, it's not a good time right now, me and Bela were just about to -"

He stopped abruptly and the irritated look immediately melted when he saw her tear-streaked appearance and her body that visibly trembled with the effort to keep back her tears.

"What the fuck did that hairless ape do to you?" He asked her through gritted teeth, his voice hard and trembling and his eyes angry and as cold and as hard as flint. Issa swallowed heavily and gave a weak half shrug that also came with a moment of speechlessness. Balthazar's hands curled into fists at his sides at such a self-deprecating, pathetic shrug that had come from normally such a coolly confident woman.

"Bal, I . . ." She trailed off then as she dissolved into more tears and Balthazar's jaw hardened as he immediately crossed over to her and brought her into a tight embrace. Shushing her gently, he rocked her gently back in forth, his hand moving soothingly down her hair as she did so. She buried her face in his chest, taking comfort in his scent of aged cognac and expensive designer cologne.

"I swear to God, that I will kill him!" He growled when he finally got the entire story out of her through her sobs and tears. "I will castrate him first, of course, and then I will hurtle him back into that accursed pit that Crowley dragged him from!" He laughed then, evilly. "And oh, woe be to him when Lucifer figures out how he has hurt you! If he thought being butt buddies with him was bad enough the first time, oh no! Lucifer will make it ten times worse this time around when he figures this shit out!"

"Bal, I don't know what to do!" She spoke, her voice coming muffled from her face being buried in his expensive silk shirt. "Ever since we left Kansas to find him, everything has been going to Hell! Everything is changing – there are new integers being entered into the equation constantly, and . . . I'm lost, Bal, and I hate it!"

"Love, I can't tell you what to do – this is your issue and you need to figure out what to do about it, but I can tell you what I'm going to do!"

"What?" She asked, her brows furrowing in confusion as she took her face out of his shirt and turned that same look of confusion onto him.

"I'm going to kill him!" He growled as he gently moved her away from him and stalked past her through the woods, heading in the general direction of the hotel. Issa let out a terrified squeak as she bounded after the tall blonde Angel, begging him to not be hasty and not to hurt him among other things.

"You know, for someone who had just had her heart torn out by the heartstrings, you sure want to be remarkably lenient towards him -!"

Balthazar sputtered to a stop when he was interrupted mid-sentence when they reached the hotel and saw the great screaming match between Sam and Jason. Dean stood between them, hands on their chests, keeping them apart so that they wouldn't be tempted to tear each other's throats out.

"Oh God . . ." The both of them murmured at the same time and they glanced at each other for a moment before they both took off at a run towards the three men.

". . . You're just mad because mom wants to fuck uncle Dean instead of you!" Jason roared out, tears brimming in his eyes, and all of the adults froze, Sam in shock, and Dean, Balthazar and Issa in mounting horror. "Mom and uncle Dean had sex all the time and yet he still managed to be a better father to me than you ever were!"

"Jason!" Dean snapped out warningly, but Jason ignored him.

"He still managed to be there for me – he helped me prepare for school before we left, he talked me out of going down a very dark path in my life – everything that you never did!"

"Jason, shut up!" Balthazar's powerful voice split through the air and all attention turned onto him, including Sam's. A small, tight smile appeared on Balthazar's face as he gingerly inclined his head to the tall Winchester.

"Sam . . . Sam, Sam, Sam . . ." He shook his head then as his blue eyes adopted an artic iciness that made Sam swallowed heavily. "I have half a mind to hurtle you back into that pit with Lucifer and Michael waiting for you and allow them to reap Issa's anger and revenge!" He smiled tightly and sighed. "Oh boy would Lucifer have quite a bone to pick with you when he found out how badly you hurt her!"

"Now look here -!"

"No, you look here, you hairless ape!" Balthazar snapped angrily as he crossed the distance between them in two large strides. He easily stood Sam's height and the two men tried to stare the other down although both were largely unsuccessful. "You have hurt possible the only woman I have ever loved! Now, I don't know if it's because you're cocky because you've already killed countless angels, but when it comes to her, you damn better well be watching your ass, you understand!" Sam didn't say anything. He merely swallowed heavily and nodded and Balthasar glanced at Issa over his shoulder, noticing her trembling frame and pursed his lips. If he hurt Sam, he would hurt her. If he killed him . . . he killed her.

Turning back to Sam, his jaw hardened as did his eyes. "Truthfully, I have no idea in the Nine Circles of Hell, why she insists on defending you! God knows you don't deserve it!" Balthazar roughly pushed him away and turned to move back to Issa but Sam's angry voice stopped him mid-stride.

"Yeah, well she hurt me -!"

"It's funny, isn't it?" Balthazar interrupted him, laughing as he turned around to face him again. "Well, it's funny to me, anyway, that you insist on Issa being the only one who has committed the wrong here! The last time I checked, she did not cheat on you while you were still around after that one little scene in your past! But most of all, she did not bare another man a child!" He gazed at him pointedly for a moment. "However, you have and while it might not boil down to who did what here, it certainly boils down to who committed the most wrongs compared to the other! And you, my hairless ape friend, takes the entire Goddamn cake!" He snorted and shook his head as he gazed at him with a look of disgust on his face. "Such a selfish bastard, you are!"

He turned around them and resumed his journey to Issa. He stopped beside her and smiled a small, comforting smile as he cupped her face in his hands. "I got to go now love, I can't keep Bela waiting! Promise me if anything happens, you'll call though?" Issa nodded after swallowing heavily and he continued to smile a small smile as he pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead. Once that was done, he was gone, leaving Issa alone in a very awkward situation with three of the most important men in her life.

"What brought that about?" She asked quietly and while Sam sighed, Dean was the one who first spoke.

"It was . . . nothing. Jason wondered what had happened between you two in order for you to go stomping off like that and soon enough, they were going at each other's throats!" Issa nodded as she averted her eyes to the ground and headed for the hotel room she, unfortunately, was sharing with Sam. Shrugged past him and after shooting Dean a weak glance, followed her, arms outstretched apologetically.

"Issa, I know I can't say anything -!"

"I hate you!" Issa spat at him, her eyes fiery as she twirled around to face him. He recoiled, swallowing hard and she gritted her teeth in the same emotion that her eyes were also showing him. She shook her head. "I stood by you through every piece of shit in your life, Sam! I stood by you when you forsook me for that bitch Ruby, when you returned from Hell with no soul and the biggest asshole I've ever seen!" She sighed and held out her arms. "Did I complain? Not really. Why? Because I had a child I had to look over Sam! When Ruby waltzed in and you went to her as smooth as butter, I didn't . . ." She shrugged, her arms still held out. "I had to look after Jason – I didn't have time to hate you! If you didn't come back, then that was fine - at least he still had me and Dean and everyone else in his life that seemed like they actually wanted him! When you returned from Hell without a soul, I didn't care if you were an asshole, just as long as you were with us after being apart for so long!" She shook her head wearily and ran her fingers through her hair. "There was so much shit, Sam! And I stayed with you, not because the warmth and our Bond forced me to, but because I loved you!" She swallowed hard and turned an inquiring gaze up to him. "Was it too much to ask, that when the tables were turned and it was you in my position, that you would do the same?"

It was a good question . . . why didn't he?

He shook his head, swallowing hard. There was a lump growing in his throat now and despite everything, his eyes blurred with tears as he shook his head again. "I . . . I . . ." He stumbled for words to say, knowing that nothing could ever fully bridge the gap between them but wanting so much to. He would sell his soul all over again to make things go back to the way they were . . . before everything happened – before they lost their daughter.

She watched him . . . she watched him crack, watched him split and then watched with a soft eye as a tear slid down his cheek from an agonized, weary eye.

This woman – the woman standing before him, was not his wife - not yet – not anymore. The puffiness and redness surrounding her eyes from when she had cried had yet to relinquish the skin around her eyes. Her shoulders, even though she was wounded, were straighter than he remembered. She was still young, and proud, and undefeated, even after this terrible blow. She felt like she did not know him anymore; nor did she look upon him with a lover's eye, feel for him like a wife would her husband. He is a stranger to her body that used to be his home and to her heart, which had once loved him so much.

He knows the shape and feel of her anger, now and in the years that may still come if they choose it. He feels it as much in the heaviness of the air as he does in the narrowing of her eyes and her lips, the slow hardening of her jaw.

Sam had never felt so far away from home, as he did at that moment.

Behind his back, he folds his fist into his palm. He keeps his elbows loose, ignores the crawling tension in his forearms. Sam opens his mouth to speak, abrupt, defensive. Issa's lips thin further, and Sam is talking too fast now, too loud:

"Look, Issa, I'm sorry, okay?"

Issa's hair slides against her shoulders as she tilts her head. She doesn't press her hands against her eyes and sigh like she used to do when she was angry or frustrated at something. She doesn't open her arms to him and take him into them; doesn't murmur comfort against his ear, doesn't press a soft kiss to the spot of pulsing pain at his temples before pressing the same soft kiss to his lips. She replies:

"Forgive me, Sam, but I don't know what to think right now! I'm sorry but I just don't! You've been lying to me for years -!"

"Not lying. I haven't lied, once!" He spoke, sharply. He has been alone for so long, a stranger to his own family, a guest in his own home. He had missed and begged for his wife's caresses, her honeyed words and her pleasured pleas while Dean had soaked them up greedily – selfishly replacing Sam's name with his own.

"I had wanted to tell you . . . so badly, Issa!"

"You didn't!"

"I couldn't!" He replied, his eyes ghosting with tears again and the sudden silence between them became painful in its intensity. Issa's hair moved to curtain her face, but Issa could see that her lips stretched in sympathy before twisting into a grimace.

"I hate all this dishonesty between us!" She says, and Sam knows and understands and tries not to wince with the unexpected pain of that statement. Her face is unreadable for long moments, but her anger is softer when she looks at Sam again. "Sam, this is . . . this is a lot to deal with! I don't know if our relationship can ever be what it was before -!"

"I know," Sam says, sighing in relief that the situation was finally calming down. "Believe me, Issa, I know!"

"Ghosts, demons and shapeshifters are one thing, Sam," Issa continued with grim humor, "But dealing with rebelling half-Angel son and my uncommunicative, lying husband is something else entirely! I'm not equipped to deal with this – forgive me!" She huffed with a pained laugh into her palm.

"I'm sorry . . . I can't that enough!" Sam spoke again, softer now, every fiber in his body pleading with her to forgive him. He bit down on the inside of his cheek for the reassurance he could not and would not ask for. "I'm sorry!"

Issa sighed and almost closed her eyes against the sight of him. She managed to still her restless hands by folding her arms underneath her breasts, her hands tucking tightly against her ribs. Finally, Issa spoke, slowly, unhappily. "I don't know how I can deal with this, Sam. I just don't know what you will tell me will be the truth!" Sam doesn't answer and Issa sighed, her expression caught between frustration and reluctant amusement. "You must have been a handful growing up!" She laughed, and Sam knew it wasn't quite a compliment.

"Do you really think I'm that bad now?" Sam asked and then immediately cursed himself for the petulance in his own voice. Issa's eyebrows curved upwards, surprised, considering. "Never mind . . ." Sam said quickly before he managed to fit a smile to his lips, tight and uncomfortable. "This is harder than I thought it would be, dealing with this!"

"It's pretty awkward from my side of things, too, you know!" Issa agreed.

Finally, she hesitated and after pulling her curled hands from the crook of her elbows, moved towards him, purposeful, eyes narrowed in thought. Sam almost jumped at the sudden motion. He almost leaned into the touch - almost cried. He did nothing, though, but stood still, and slit his eyes until everything blurred before him. Issa's fingers were careful against Sam's face: tracing upward from chin to jaw, cheek to forehead. She trailed down the bridge of his nose, smoothed the edge of her thumb across his eyebrow. And then finally, she pulled him down to her and pressed her lips to his, gentle and loving, and he returned the kiss - gratefully. Strong arms wrapping around her waist and pulling her into a protective embrace, she allowed her tongue to enter his mouth and entwine with his.

They broke apart for a moment and he murmured it again: I'm sorry. She nodded and shushed him before kissing him again. Soon, they came together with the passionate fervency of two lovers joined together after months of separation – which technically, they had been. Their mouths locked with the same sense of urgency, their tongues dancing and entwining in a play of intimacy that seemed so terribly secretive, almost as if it was something that only they could do. Their hands ran over the other's bodies, groping and squeezing with their hands with what their mouths and their hearts could not.

They broke apart for a moment, Issa's breath coming out shallow as he pulled her shirt over her head before helping her with his. They did the same with the rest of their clothes, the soft swishing of cloth, the clinking of undoing belts and the metallic sound of unzipping pants filling the air around them. Issa let out a low moan as Sam gently lowered her down onto the unmade bed a few feet away, his lips moving to caress the smooth skin of her neck, his teeth worrying at the nape of her neck a little until she squirmed underneath him, begging breathlessly for more. Their fingers groped at each other, squirming and shifting and moaning until her fingers were wrapped around his silken flesh. He groaned into her mouth as she caressed him and stroked him into a throbbing rigidness that had him trembling above her.

He whispered 'I'm sorry' again before they made love with a passion that astounded them both. The slight darkness of her skin contrasted with his in a way that left him breathless, and combined with the way her thighs would cling so deliciously to his lean hips and her nails scrape against his back when he angled himself just that certain way, made him positively lightheaded with desire.

"Faster, Sam . . . harder . . ." Issa begged him breathlessly before they connected lips again, and Sam gladly did as she wished, his hands pinning her waist down onto the mattress as he pistoned into her and they knew, at that dawning moment when their vision blurred before them as her inner muscles rippled around him; when he collapsed on her, murmuring that he was sorry over and over again, that although their marriage would never be what it used to be, that for right now, at that moment, that they were willing to try.


	17. Epilogue

**Okay, since this is the last chapter and we all know how bad I am at goodbyes, then please forgive me if this goodbye is significantly shorter than the one in Lips of an Angel :)**

**Firstly, I'd like to extend the sincerest loves and thanks to both Katara Melody Cullen and SomebodyWhoCares for being my biggest fans and who kept me writing and not abandoning this story. I love the both of you and as always, good luck with your own writing :)**

**Secondly, I am sorry for the shortness of this Epilogue, but I think it ties things up nicely and I hope you guys think it does too!**

**Thirdly and lastly, I AM currently in the process of making two more Supernatural fics. The first one is, of course, through Issa's perspective and it details her life before her Fall, which I feel like I didn't sufficiently talk about in both Lips and Broken Wings. The second one mainly takes place between Lips and Broken Wings but it takes place mainly through the perspective of Julie Winchester, Sam and Dean's . . . half-sister? dum dum dum! ;)**

**Anyway! Thanks again for all your support and love - I'll cherish it forever and as long as I continue writing! **

**Hearts and Bunches of Love!**

* * *

It felt good to be back in her own bed again; nestled amidst the dark red bedcovers and pristine and expensive Egyptian silk cotton sheets the color of gold (something that she and Sam _had _been thankful for a Christmas gift from Balthazar). She missed the fluffy pillows and the whirlpool bathtub and the mattress that when you lay down you sunk a couple of centimeters. She missed her beautiful house and her pool of good friends but most of all, she was thankful they were all back _alive_! She was thankful that Jason was back, as well as Sam and Dean, and that all of them relatively unharmed (Sam had healed leaps and bounds since being treated once a day by Issa) and she could tell they were glad to be back too. Jason was glad to be going back to school, Sam was glad to have his relatively normal life back period! He had missed his career, his house – his _bed_!

Hell, it seemed everyone had missed their own beds!

Issa let out a lazy groan as she plopped down on her stomach on the bed, her eyes closing and her mouth curving upwards in pleasure as she did so. She was so tired . . . exhausted even. She was physically exhausted as well as mentally exhausted. She was now pleasantly warm thanks to Sam and all she wanted to do was go to sleep and sleep for days!

The bed bowed underneath her a few inches to her right and she grinned at hearing Sam's almost orgasmic groan as he plopped on the bed too. "Baby, you have no idea how much I've missed this bed!" He spoke, his voice as exhausted as hers was, and she continued to grin as she shifted her to position so that she was gazing at him over the slight mound of scarlet colored bedcovers that rose between them.

"So, you _are _happy that I convinced you to invest in the TemperPedic, huh?" She teased, and Sam grinned and laughed as he nodded.

"Baby, I positively _love _you right now!"

Issa grinned and crawled over to him as he said those words, one of her hands moving to plant into the bed beside his head as she leaned over him. Her ebony hair cascaded past one bared shoulder, hanging soft and silky and positively enticing near him. He smiled a small smile, his eyes softening as he brought up a hand and gently slid the fingers into the soft locks, marveling at how the dark strands ran through his fingers like water. He thought he had missed her hair the most . . . her beautiful ebony hair . . .

_She is a good woman . . . she always was and she is now_ . . . He thought as her grin disappeared, one of expressionless replacing it. Softly, she tested his name against her lips, almost as if it were a foreign word and her tongue couldn't fully wrap around it without sufficient practice. The hand that had slid through her hair moved to grasp her waist and he swallowed hard, fighting the urge to flip her over onto her back and move down to bury his face against her belly like he used to do when she was pregnant with Jason and their daughter, murmuring soft words against the smooth, rounded flesh that would never fail to make a grin and a laugh come to her face and her eyes.

"Issa, baby . . . my love, my heart - I've missed you - I've missed you so much!" He murmured but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't forget the past that he left behind him. He couldn't banish the look of disgust and betrayal on Veronica's face as he confessed to her that their relationship had to come to an end because he didn't love her – that she was nothing compared to Issa – that she would _always_ be nothing compared to Issa! He couldn't banish the image of the same look of disgust and betrayal in Issa's eyes when he blew up at her in the hotel room and said the things he never should have said to her - he _couldn't_!

"It must have been hard for you . . . I know that now . . ." Issa spoke softly, and vaguely, he wondered what the Hell she could see in his face. He wondered how much of her own future she could read in the hardening of his jaw, the sorrowful look in his eyes.

"I didn't want to hurt you, Issa, by telling you! I wanted to spare you and Jason both the pain of my weakness – the pain I had harbored for so long!" He shook his head. "We were never meant to have another child after Jason, I know that, and I also know that it was extremely selfish of me to do what I did, but . . ." He sighed and turned his eyes up to her, pleading with her to understand where he was coming from. "I wouldn't take it back for the world because it's because of these fights that we have – these very fights right now, that make this relationship worth saving when we get through them together – as a couple! Hell, it's worth it so long as I can still have you and Jason!"

Issa hardly hesitates at all. "Oh God, Sam, you big lug, come here!" She spoke, breathless with both tears and laughter, as she leaned down and pressed her lips to his again. He kissed her back and there are subtle differences in her body, he noticed, since the last time they had laid on that very same bed, lip-locked. Her scent, for one, was different. He noticed that she had changed her bath soap from _Bath&BodyWorks _cherry blossoms to _Bath&BodyWorks _sweet pea. Her hands were also slightly uncertain against his hair as she ran her fingers through the silky brown locks although her lips against his and her tongue coupling with his were very much full of purpose.

They broke apart after a moment and Sam heaved a shuddering breath as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her atop him, his face burying in her neck seconds later. It was a motion that made Issa hold him closer and coo wordless comfort against his hair with something that might almost be the same unconditional love that had both been a blessing and a curse from their Bond.

"You aren't the wife I know anymore, Issa, at least not yet, but dammit, you're the closest I've come to home in far too long!" He murmured and grinning, she shushed him.

"Hush, baby – won't you just hush? Everything will be all right now, I promise! Believe it or not, I forgive you . . . partly . . ." She assured him and he grinned against her neck.

Believe it or not . . . he believed her.


End file.
